balanse
by jaceyrose18
Summary: Paano ito mangyayari? Paano makokontrol ng kalikasan ang mabilis na pagdami ng partikular na mga uri. Ang kalikasan ay may paraan na mabalanse lahat. Ito ang tatalakayin natin sa modyul na ito. dxk
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

He stared up at the withered cathedral, lip rising into a snarl, hands curling to fists at his side. He could taste the power of the land, a burning smell in his nose. He coughed, hoping that the taste would fade, but there was no such luck. He supposed that meant the priest was strong.

Or had been strong. Else he never would have been able to cross the threshold, his shadow stark against the sunlight bleeding around his silhouette on the smooth wood floor of the church. The high ceilings and second story balcony might look beautiful to some, the history and beauty of the craftsmanship outstanding, the gleaming brass pipes of the organ rising high above towards the rafters, and the stained glass casting the interior in a rainbow of scenes and color, but to him, it was just a reminder of the years.

It was empty, his heavy steps echoing until he reached the first set of pews, going down on one knee and bowing his head, vicious grin on his lips. "Forgive me my sins, oh Father," he saw the holy man bowed before the altar, no doubt waiting until he made his way up to confession to rise. "And accept me into thine home," he straightened, rising and tilting his chin up, grin widening.

He took long strides, the shadows beginning to curl around him, slithering across the floors and retreating from the corners. Even this man, blind and old, could tell he was here now, what he intended given how his form had stiffened.

Let it be a lesson to those who you'll leave behind, Guardian. We are not so easily snuffed out.

"Father," he sneered, reaching the last row of pews soon enough. A grunt and he paused, watching the man shimmy his way out from under the altar, tools set aside.

…under?

His lip curled in irritation. No wonder he'd been able to pass the threshold. The old priest was gone and another had taken his place. Of-course, just his luck. He waited fifty Goddamn years, why would it be easy for him now? By the looks of it, this one had no powers to speak of, his form devoid of the divine.

Well. This would make it too easy. But, he came for the head of a priest, so this just makes his life easier. Not the one he wanted, but he would do. If his new assignment was this church, then he'd make it clear none were welcome in this accursed place.

He sighed, taking another three steps before the man rose to his full height and turned around. It was in that exact moment that all his plans came to a screeching halt.

"…well hello."

"Uh… hi?" There was no way this man was the priest, not with that figure. Built, lightly tanned skin, muscles defined through the thin black shirt, fitted black slacks tucked into boots worn and scuffed, but sturdy. A tool belt around his waist, a few slots empty—no doubt those were scattered on the floor. "Can I… help you? With something?" The stranger swallowed and he felt his eyes take in the strong jawline, follow the movement of his Adam's apple bob, then trace back up, drinking in the high cheek bows and straight, narrow nose. He paused on the brows, strangely forked, but grinned wide at the crimson eyes, the perfect foil to his own blue. With hair just as red as blood, it was almost like the gods decided to make a creature his pure opposite.

He came for blood, but wouldn't it be so much better to tempt the faithful away? This priest's predecessor may have been able to resist, but this young one? Doubtful. And lacking any form of protection against him? It would be fun.

"Well, you can start by giving your name," he grinned, flashing sharp canines. The redhead jerked, flushing and rubbing at the back of his head.

"S-sorry! I just moved here, I haven't had a chance to meet many people! Pleasure to meet you, I'm Kagami Taiga!" he grinned, ducking his head sheepishly. "And you are?"

He tilted his chin up, eyes flashing red for a moment as he licked his lips. "Aomine. Aomine Daiki. Pleasure is all mine, I assure you." Kagami at-least had some sense it seemed; his smile faded and he watched him warily. "Fixin' up the place, are ya?"

"Yeah. The Father's getting up in age and we finally convinced him to let me come fix some stuff," he gestured back to the altar and Aomine tilted slightly, following the movement.

"Wait… he's still around? Aren't you his replacement?" He watched the redhead, his plans tumbling around him yet again. Of-course this is how it would go. Easy? Yeah right.

"Ah, sorry, no, you came to see him? He should be back within the hour. He went out to do some errands. I'm a carpenter." Aomine gazed blankly back at the man he'd been so keen on stealing away. "Uh… If you want," Kagami motioned helplessly to the front row pew and Aomine flicked his eyes towards it, then back. "I mean, I'm not holy or anything, but, if you came to talk, I—I could, you know, listen?" he offered, voice wavering and expression turning equal parts nervous and hopeful. Another moment and he colored, cheeks almost as red as his hair. "Sorry, that was out of line! I didn't mean to intrude, I just—Gahh!" he threw his hands up, scrubbing hard at his hair and crouching down on the floor, berating himself quietly.

Aomine snorted, stepping back and settling in the pew, crossing his legs elegantly and throwing his arms up across the top of the hard wood. "Ain't you cute, huh, Tiger?"

"Taiga! Wait, no, just call me Kagami! I don't know you!" Kagami looked up from where he'd been staring at the floor, brows furrowed and nose scrunched up. Aomine tilted his head, a single brow quirking as he tapped a finger against the pew. Kagami's expression smoothed. "You want me to listen?"

"Sure, I'll kill some time til he gets back." After which, he'll be killing something entirely different. Just as Kagami stepped forward, settling a foot or so away from him in the pew, Aomine lunged off the seat, nails clawing at the floor where he kneeled, gagging at the acrid taste bubbling up his throat.

"Ao-aomine?" Crimson eyes flashed towards the doors, the sunlight blocked by a tall frame, thin but still sturdy. The light cast a faint greenish tint and he sneered. "Hey, what's goin' on? You alright? Are you sick?"

"No, I don't believe he is," the elder stepped inside the church carefully, bags in his hands. "Kagami, step away from him, boy," he ordered simply, sliding to the left and settling the bags down on the bench. "I didn't think I'd be seeing you again. At-least, not in this lifetime," the quiet voice echoed.

"Old man, you're treading on very dangerous ground," Aomine growled, rising shakily, swiping at his mouth.

"No, I believe you are. You are unwanted, please leave peacefully." The priest swished down the aisle, his robes black but dusty at the bottom. His cross hung heavy around his neck, the small white collar stark, even in the dim lighting. The light made his skin look even paler, form aged, but his hair was still green.

Aomine snorted. "So you still have your hair, do you?" He straightened further, taking in a deep breath and breath out, dusting floating through the sunlight. Shadows swirled around his feet. "Look, I ain't goin' anywhere. Not unless you're goin' with me," he rolled his shoulders, the fabric of his shirt shifting and pulling against his back. He cracked his neck. "Got it?"

The man stopped halfway down the aisle. "I shall not ask again."

"Father?" Aomine tilted his head, grinning back at the redhead he'd been making friends with. Crimson eyes widened at the blood red irises and sharpened grin. "A-aomine…?"

"Kagami, step away from him," the elder raised a hand, motioning towards the left, palm open. "I should hate for you to be injured, boy."

"Injured? What, hold up, what the—uh, I-I mean, Father, what's going on? Aomine, why are you being so disrespect—"

"Hey, so, Tiger," Aomine cut him off, voice a low drawl as he resting his hands on his hips. Kagami's eye twitched at his newest nickname. "Ever seen a demon before?" A laugh eased itself past his lips, dark skin darkening further, black marks seeping into the visible skin. Swirls and lines and ancient letters blazed across his form, sclera darkening to black making the red stand out further. His teeth looked even whiter, canines elongated and vicious. From beneath his messy navy bangs, dark stubs grew up, splitting into three spikes (deer, Kagami's befuddled mind supplied), his nails sharpening into talons. He laughed again, spreading his arms wide. "You remember me better now, don't you, Father," Aomine sneered. "Oh, that's right. I forgot. You lost your eyes in that fire. Good job, by the way," crimson orbs shifted to take in the church. "On rebuilding."

There was a soft sigh. Kagami went from staring at the demon standing not six feet from him, to the holy man still standing in the aisle. His eyes, lost to a fire decades ago, opened, milky green hues gazing unfocused towards the altar. "Aomine. Leave in peace, and I shall let you go. If you continue, I shall be forced to take action. Because of what we once were, please. Go." Kagami screwed up his nose, watching the man in surprise.

Aomine's smile faded, form still. "'Because of what we once were,' huh? Do I still get to call you Shin—"

"Don't," the unearthly voice rumbled through the church, the lanterns hanging down shaking with the tremor. Kagami yelped, stumbling back and holding onto the top of the pew.

Had the priest still been able to see, he would have seen the faint flash of fear in the demon's eyes.

Aomine shrugged it away, tilting up his chin as the horns faded back into his skin, demonic presence disappearing as if an illusion. Kagami rose unsteadily, inching towards the aisle, not trusting the navy haired "man" for a second. "Fine. I was getting bored anyway. It wouldn't be fun, killing you, with how old you've gotten," he waved a hand, as if this wasn't an inconvenience to him in the slightest, just something that might've provided him with some entertainment. "Eh, maybe some other time," he shrugged, tilting his head and sending the redhead a winning smile. "Walk me out, Tiger?"

"Fuck off!" he spit back, Aomine having the gall to look scandalized and raise a hand to his chest in mock insult. "A-ah, sor-sorry, Father!" The priest raised a hand and Kagami bit his tongue, glowering at the intruder, who smirked back.

"See that he makes his way out, Kagami," the elder spoke, turning his back to retreat back towards the door and scoop up his bags, walking towards the side hall where he would slip out to his rooms.

"W-what? B-but—!"

"Yeah, see me out, Tiger," Aomine purred, sidling close. The redhead growled low, pulling away and stalking towards the door, muttering under his breath. "Wow, what a gentleman," Aomine drawled, raising his hands to link them behind his head, following after the carpenter and admiring the view, a grin pulling at his lips. "Hey, Midorima!" The priest paused, the door to his rooms creaking open. Aomine drew to a stop and Kagami whirled around, the fire in his eyes alerting the demon that if he tried to go after the elder, the redhead would go after him. Well, he liked a challenge. "I didn't come just for you."

Blind eyes found navy across the cathedral, lips pressed tight in a familiar scowl. "I didn't think so."

Aomine tilted his head slightly, appraising the man. Kagami took a step forward. "It's been fifty years."

"Indeed." The priest ducked his head, a polite good-bye, before shifting his hold on his bags, taking a single step into his home. "Stay away, Aomine. For your own good."

"Just so you know," Aomine's voice echoed eerily in the high walls, the shadows darkening once again. "You weren't the only one who lost something." There was a sharp intake of breath, a quick step on the elder's part, and wide milky eyes stared into blackness. "You lost your eyes. Ever think what he lost? He wasn't as strong as me, ya know," Aomine's tone was quiet, but low. He was angry, but more than that, there was despair.

Kagami didn't know what to make of this demon, nor how he seemed to know the rather foul-tempered priest. If he said so himself, they seemed to be on decent terms, all things considered—that is to say, the elder had been polite, if not vaguelyfriendly, which was more than anyone else got.

"…get to the point, Aomine. My patience draws thin."

Kagami takes it back.

"Just saying. I protect my own. You got off easy, compared to him." And Kagami knew he eyes were playing tricks on him when it seemed as though light had gathered around the form of the old divine, a faint glow that stood out in the dim of the side hallway and his darkened room. "Fine, fine. I'm leaving." The door closed loudly behind the man as he left them in the main church. "Well, Tiger, shall we?"

"It's Kagami," he growled low, disliking this man more and more by the second. Aomine grinned, walking towards the doors. "Keep away from Father Midorima, you hear me?" Kagami glared, planting himself firmly in the doorway and crossing his arms.

"Aww, Tiger, you playin' hard to get?"Aomine leaned in close, blue eyes lightening while Kagami spluttered incoherently.

"Excuse me?!"

"Well, don't miss me too much, alright?" A corner of Aomine's lips hitched up higher than the other, sharp canine peeking through. Kagami tried to pull away, but paused when he felt nails against the back of his neck, wondering (begrudgingly amazed) at when the demon had gotten that close. "Just a sec there, Tiger," the bluenet murmured.

"Oi, let go." Kagami narrowed his eyes, increasingly suspicious as the trespasser leaned closer. "Hey, hey, what're you doing?"

"What do you think?"

Five minutes later found Kagami trembling as he used the telephone in Midorima's rooms, the contraption amazingly working despite the meager electricity the church had. "Hello, Ishigawa—"

"Tatsuya, Tatsuya, please, you gotta help me!" From his armchair in the corner, Midorima scowled towards the direction of the young carpenter, fingers trailing over the braille slowly.

"Taiga? Is everything alright?"

"No, everything is not alright!" the redhead exploded, pacing as far as the cord would allow him, making tight circles around Midorima's parlor. Said priest settled further into his chair, even less pleased with these latest developments than the victim was. "Tatsuya, you don't understand!"

"Well, no, not unless you—"

"Tatsuya, Tatsuya, look, this guy—well, demon, okay? He's a demon—anyway, Ta-tatsuya, he—he—he—"

"He…? Wait, Taiga, go back, you actually met a demon? Taiga, are you injured? Did he hurt you?"

"He kissed me!" the redhead wailed.

While Kagami panicked, low laughter seeped across the line. "Oh, is that right?" His brother's voice was light, but had Kagami been in his right mind, he would have recognized it for what it was. "My my, I didn't think the job of a carpenter would be so exciting. Well, I suppose there's only one thing to do."

"Exorcise him?!" Kagami was hopeful, but Midorima's snort and slow shake of the head had all those warm feelings plummeting.

"Don't be ridiculous, boy," the priest scoffed. "He's strong and I'm not willing to try and bind him in place in my church. Too much damage for such a slim chance."

"Don't be silly, Taiga. I'll be on the first train down. Well, I have to go pack, okay? See you in a week!" The line clicked and Kagami replaced the telephone, sinking down in a nearby armchair. He stared morosely up at the ceiling, remembering the demon's laugh as he faded to mist, Kagami's swing crashing through the wispy tendrils.

"Father," he said at length. A low noise was all the confirmation he needed to continue. "Is there anything you can do to ward him off?" The redhead looked over at the priest, who was gazing ahead at the wall, fingers still on the pages.

"Against Aomine?" Kagami nodded, then realized the holy man couldn't see the motion. "No. Sorry. I wish I could help, but he's very strong-willed. It's unfortunate that you've caught his attention." When the carpenter made a keening wail, the elder's face screwed up and he reached for a coaster on the table next to him, throwing it at the distraught man's head. "Quiet with you! Go cry somewhere else!"

"B-b-but—but—but I'm being targeted! My life is oooov—Ow!" the third coaster hit it's mark. "Be more sympathetic, you senile old fool!"

"I will when there's something to be sympathetic over! Now get out of my house!"

Notes:

Well. Not sure where I'm gonna take this, but I have a base outline for each of the couples. I was gonna start with Midorima, but I decided I'm going to tell his story as we go.

But to begin, we've seen how Aomine and Kagami meet and we've seen the beginnings of Midorima's abilities, even in his old age~ Next up with be big brother Tatsuya to protect his cute little brother's innocence~

To be honest, I know this is probably a little out there. Period-wise, I'm thinking highly fantasized Feudal Era, but at the same time, I'm going to have some modern stuff thrown in there, electricity for one. Think One Piece, you know? More older times, but with some modern twists. In this case, feudalish Japan (do NOT expect historical accuracy) with shrines and priests. Midorima will be the only Christian priest, all others will be Shinto priests.

Since I just kinda threw this together, I can't say when the next update will be...

Feel free to come bother me on tumblr~ same name as here~

Chapter 2

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

In all Tatsuya's twenty-six years, he's encountered various demons and spirits. Taking over the shrine from his uncle, it stood to reason that he'd have some experience. He, as the elder, was gifted with the divine, while Taiga, the true heir, had… not. Taiga had no problem with it, but his father had been mildly distraught—it'd been the family's path for generations, so who would carry it on, if his only child could not?

Tatsuya was merely a bastard. He had no right—but he did have the blood. He had the divine. So he was brought into the large house, taken from his mother who was more than happy to see him go, in exchange for the large purse every year for her "sacrifice."

He'd been quiet, for those first few months. He began training he should have started years ago and it was grueling. It was a lot of mental work, a lot of studying and reading, countless hours in the vast library learning more about the world than he needed to just to become a priest. Apparently, as he was now a true son and would have to act the part, he needed to be learned, despite being sent off to the mountains at the end of the year to continue his training in isolation.

But Taiga, well, Taiga was just so pleased he suddenly had a brother, and older brother. He followed Tatsuya around, holding onto his hand and chattering and just—smiling. He smiled at Tatsuya, like he was someone worth that happiness, like he did something to even deserve it.

So Tatsuya accepted the eager redhead as his brother and showed him his books and the stars he studied. He showed Taiga the little wood carvings the elder who lived next to his mother taught him to make. He protected the boy from the other children of the house, children who had no place bullying the heir, and he got cuts and bruises for his troubles. He would be scolded for taking Taiga away from his own studies, but then it would be his cute little brother protecting him, proclaiming in a loud voice that it was Tatsuya who was teaching him so much, through his books and his stars.

And then Tatsuya left and Taiga, barely eight, decided he wanted to take up carpentry. Tatsuya had received a very strongly worded letter from his Uncle about that, but Tatsuya merely sent back some nice branches and logs from the mountains (Taiga sent him a crude, but nice, little tiger).

In all his twenty-six years, he's encountered various demons and spirits. The demons were never too much a bother, out to cause mischief rather than harm, and the spirits usually good rather than bad. As a priest, he knows how to handle many different denizens of the supernatural. He's taken over the shrine and carries on the family legacy, been doing so for almost three years now.

Never, in all his life, did someone dare assault his cute little brother in such a fashion.

"Yona," he began pleasantly. The shrine maiden glanced up from her writing, silvery eyes flecked with blue wide as she focused on him. "I'll be taking a trip to the south. I can trust you to handle things while I'm gone?" She blinked slowly, then gave a single tilt of her chin, eyes dropping back down to the parchment under her hands. "I should be back within a fortnight. If you should need me, I'll be in Oura. Call there and I'll get back to you." She lifted her eyes once more, then dropped them back, her brush sweeping in gentle swipes across the page. "Right. Well, I'm off to pack. I shall see you in two weeks, Yona."

"Safe travels, Guji."

"Please, Yona, no formalities," he sighed from the doorway, but knew she would continue nonetheless.

* * *

"Ah, Sir, um, c-could I have—could I just—a moment Sir?!"

Kasamatsu Yukio looked over his shoulder, a brow quirked at the redhead avoiding his eyes. "Kagami?"

"Sir, see, um, the thing is, uh, well, there's, ah, well, I suppose it's—" the man flinched at the whack to his head, scowling darkly down at the green haired elder next to him. "Stop hitting me already!"

"Then stop playing the part of a fool, boy," was the clipped response. Kasamatsu bowed lightly to the elder, straightening up after a moment.

"What can I help you with, Midorima-san?" The priest scoffed, poking a finger into Kagami's side, the redhead inching away and growling at him.

"See here, Yukio," Kasamatsu nodded, hands clasped before his obi. "The one," Midorima poked at Kagami again, the redhead growling once again, "Has attracted the interest of a rather unsavory sort." Kasamatsu's eyes narrowed on Kagami, who blinked, then threw his hands up.

"I didn't do anything! He came onto me!"

"Quite so," Midorima drawled, form tensing as he crossed his arms, hands slipping into the sleeves of his robes. "It appears…" Midorima took a breath, as if the mere thought pained him. Kasamatsu tilted his chin at Kagami, still slightly suspicious, but reserving judgment. "His name is Aomine. Aomine Daiki. Quite a high-level demon, to be precise."

Kasamatsu left eye twitched. "Demon."

"Indeed." Midorima nodded sagely and Kasamatsu was glad (not for the first time) that the elder was blind. "I encourage you to practice caution. I sense no ill-intent towards Kagami, but Aomine is quite angry nevertheless—at me, it must be said," the priest tilted his head down, as if ashamed, but it passed and then his was straight-backed and black-faced once more. "My church should restrain his ire and I plan on," here, Midorima's lips pulled tight, also as if disgusted, "calling upon a Shinto practitioner to reinforce my circle."

Ah. That explains it then. He despised asking for help.

"Well, if I can help in any way—"

"Indeed, Yukio, hence when I required Kagami to bring me to you." Midorima nodded and Kasamatsu prepared himself for the likely outrageous request. "The boy is a Leo," the elder spit out the word and Kasamatsu hung his head. "So I recommend obtaining several charms for his aid in this matter. You know the ones, Yukio."

"I do," Kasamatsu sighed, raising his eyes to gaze forlornly at his partner. Kagami gazed back in growing concern.

"And I don't need to go over when he should stay indoors, do I, Yukio?"

"No… No, Sir. I remember."

Midorima nodded, whacked Kagami once more for good measure, then turned on his heel, striding away. Kagami glowered after him, the black robes swishing along the ground as the priest ambled back to his church. "That man," he growled.

"Come on, Kagami. It's back luck to be out before the fifth hour."

"What?"

"Leos. Lucky hours are in the evening, during the first hour and the fifth hour. Other than that, within the first part of the—when's your birthday?" Kasamatsu glanced back from the doorway of their home, watching the redhead stare at him incredulously. "What day were you born, Bakagami?"

"The second of August, Kasamtsu-senpai, Sir!" Kasamatsu motioned towards the open door and he scurried in, glancing over his shoulder before he slipped inside. Kasamatsu closed it behind him, making for the kitchen and the refrigerator that was humming quietly.

"Then you're the second phase. That means the waxing of the moon brings you luck." From the incredulous look the man was giving him, Kasamatsu took it as he didn't believe him.

Shocker.

"I'm also a Leo. Midorima-san made sure to lecture me extensively. We are hotheaded, but natural leaders. Our luck relies on our lucky numbers and the moon moving across the sky. Just… just humor him?" Kasamatsu pulled out a glass and a pitcher from the fridge, gulping down the water quickly. "He means well and if he's actually concerned about this—how did you meet this guy?"

"I was repairing the altar and he thought I was the Father."

"Ah. Well, given he was even able to cross the threshold, that's mildly disturbing." Kagami's brows bunched together and his elder settled at the simple table. "Go on. Ask me."

"Is it really that bad? He seemed, I dunno…" Kagami rubbed at the back of his neck, settled into the simple sofa across the room, looking away. "Decent, I guess. I thought he was just a guy from town, he didn't give me any weird vibes or 'nothing. Is he really that bad? To have gotten to the church?" He looked up then, crimson eyes boring into the elder's steely blue.

"You don't know much about the father, do you, Kagami?" the redhead shook his head. "Yes. It means a hell of a lot. Midorima-san is immensely gifted. Had he not turned towards Catholicism, but instead Shinto, he would probably be the most powerful ever recorded." Kagami blinked rapidly. "His gift is rare, a one in a century kind. And because of that, he's flourished with the rites and ceremonies of the Church. His true specialty, however, lies in casting. Haven't you ever wondered why the area around the church is so barren?"Kasamatsu didn't look up from the glass in his hands, thick brows furrowed together as he stared down at his distorted reflection.

"Uh, was I supposed to?"

Kasamatsu snorted, tilting his head up and closing his eyes instead. "When the fire burnt down the church, Midorima-san was inside, as I'm sure you know it's his home. He was blinded. All because he befriended a demon, and that trickster took Midorima-san's good will and threw it back at him. To protect the church, and, by extension, the town, Midorima-san called upon his teachings to cast a circle, banishing the demons and all of his kind back to their world. It helps that his father was a well-respected Shinto priest and taught Midorima-san what he knew. The combining of the two rituals made it so powerful." Kagami stared at his friend, eyes wide and jaw beginning to slip open. "Because of his immense power and the sheer magnitude of the task, it killed everything within the circle and nothing has grown since. I've been hearing that it wasn't meant to even hold as long as it has and it's only a testament of the power he held in his youth that it has."

"But—but that area… It—it's almost two kilometers?"

"Exactly." Kagami leaned back, staring across the room at his friend. "I've heard it's been weakening these last few years, as Midorima-san aged. I've also heard the circle itself not only exiled those within our province, but those in the surrounding six, including the high-level demons of rank." Kasamatsu opened his eyes, gazing back seriously at Kagami. "If Midorima-san cautions you, you abide. If he senses no ill-will, there is none. If he is only concerned because this demon seems interested in you, then you must bear with it. Tread carefully, Kagami. If you so choose it, spend your time at the church and carry out the repairs. I doubt he will bother you there. If he does, he will not try anything with Midorima-san so close by."

Kagami nodded slowly and the raven sighed, standing up and returning the pitcher to the fridge and dropping his glass by the sink. "I'm off to the Shiros' for their roof. You just, take it easy here today, okay? I'll stop by the shrine on my way back and pick up some charms for you."

"Sure… Sure—oh, wait, my brother, I called him, after Aomine left. He was worried, he's coming down?" Kasamatsu paused by the door and Kagami gazed back at him, looking exceptionally tired. "Tatsuya's always been pretty protective, but I think he took it as a personal attack?"

"Oh?"

Kagami rubbed at the back of his head, shrugging his shoulders. "Tatsuya's a Shinto priest?"

Kasamatsu took a moment to stare before he shook his head. "I'll stop by and tell Midorima-san not to bother calling someone, not if he's going to be staying with us for a few days. I just hope the two will get along for the time it'll take to put up some sutras."

"Oh, Tatsuya's really good at what he does, he's pretty good with people too!" Kagami looked too smug and Kasamatu smirked back at him.

"Are you sure you're brothers then?"

"Eh? Sure, why?"

Kasamatsu waved him off. "Nothing, nothing. I'll be back. Don't do anything stupid, Bakagami!"

"Oi! I resent that!"

Notes:

Welp. It's been a bit since I've updated, yeah? Sorry about that. I did warn you I didn't know what I was doing and when I'd write the next one though. I do apologize that it's so short.  
Class started and I have a couple classes that require a whoooole lotta writing, so I may or may not be able to work on this. It's all kinda up in the air until I get further into the semester.  
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!

Chapter 3

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Hey." Aomine leaned against the doorway, eyes avoiding the occupants of the room. He didn't like coming back here, not if he could help it—due in part to all the idiocy he had to suffer from the residents. But, this was where they were, so, here he was. Very reluctantly. "I need a favor." A high moan eased its way to him and he scoffed, navy eyes narrowed on a portion of the ceiling.

"What kinda favor?" a low voice purred, another high pitched moan echoing around the room, the bed creaking under their weight.

"I need information on someone."

"Oh?" Aomine wrinkled his nose, turning his back to the room. "Give me an hour," a rather startling cry interrupted his voice, but Aomine was already striding down the hall, lips curling and uncurling in a sneer, gasps following behind him. He knew that was a poor decision, but the bastard could be persuasive, and pretty discrete when he chose to be.

"Damn fucking—Oi! Satsuki!" there was a faint noise in the affirmative down the next hall. "I need your help!" Another noise. "I—" He growled low to himself, eyes closing tightly. He considered throwing himself out the window, or maybe bashing his head into the wall, but that would mean he didn't get to see his Tiger anytime soon. "I met someone!"

There was a scream and two rapid thuds coming from two totally opposite directions.

He was already regretting this as he braced for the impact.

* * *

"Taiga," Himuro smiled as he spotted his younger brother waiting for him as he stepped off the train. "You came to get me? You didn't need to."

"Tatsuya! You're here!" Himuro delighted in the brilliant grin on his brother's lips, setting down his luggage to open his arms. And Kagami nearly bounded into them, lifting him briefly off the ground, laughing loudly. "I can't believe you'd drop everything to come visit!"

Yes, well, an exorcism is a rather time-sensitive business, especially if he wanted to protect his darling baby brother. "You sounded so upset, it's the least I can do. Yona can take care of the shrine for a few days." He was set down, Kagami's smile still wide. "Tell me, how did you end up here in Oura? I know we haven't spoken in some time."

"Well, Kasamatsu-san—ah, you'll meet him in a bit!—takes care of most everything in the town, and when I came travelling, I helped around a bit! I'm pretty good, you know!" his brother crowed and Himuro nodding encouragingly—he was the only one who bothered encouraging the redhead. "So when I went home," Kagami's face twisted and Himuro understood the sentiment, "I wrote him later, asking if he'd be willing to take me on. So, here I am!"

"Here you are. Shall we then? I understand your local priest may need my help?" Truth be told, Kasamatsu had phoned him only hours after Taiga did. He seemed nice, very polite, well-spoken.

"Oh, yeah, him."

Himuro smiled on the sour look on his brother's face. "Come now, Taiga, I'm sure he's not that bad."

"No, no, Tatsuya, he's worse, I promise," Taiga declared, very seriously. Himuro himself got the rundown from Kasamatsu, but he enjoyed teasing the younger and merely smiled, patting his arm.

"Get my bag, will you?"

* * *

Midorima scowled, face tilted to the side. "Are you certain you are doing this corr—"

"Indeed, Midorima-san," Himuro hummed, applying each stroke of his brush evenly. "I'm familiar with the practice." He heard the displeased hum, but no verbal reprimand, so he continued. "I'm nearly complete. Do you need any assistance setting up?"

"Because I am blind, fool?" Himuro raised a brow at the rather hostile tone. "I know what I'm doing, I don't need your misplaced pity!" the elder spat. Himuro had no doubt he was worse in his youth, so he was grateful he was witnessing the personality worn down by age.

"I suggest nothing of the sort. I know not to deal with that which I don't know," he began casually, setting the paper aside and rising, robes settling along the wooden floor of the church. "I merely suggest assisting you in your rites in an effort to make things go smoothly. And quickly."

The priest's aged face wrinkled up, lips pressing in a thin line while Himuro continued smiling. In the corner where he was exiled, Kagami watched on moodily, muttering under his breath every so often about foul-mannered elders. "Very well."

"Good to hear. Say, Taiga," the redhead glowered as Himuro raised a hand. "Why don't you go make lunch, hm? We'll come join you afterwards." Both the man and the priest shared similar looks of displeasure. "Go on. I expect something nice, else you won't like my punishment." His smile was still pleasant, but his visible eye glittered, so Kagami quickly obeyed, vaulting out of the church and calling back it'd be ready in an hour. "There. Now he's gone and we can continue in peace. I assure you, he's quite a competent cook, so never fear, Midorima-san."

A brief smile curled on the old priest's lips, but disappeared before Himuro could think to comment on it.

* * *

Himuro felt distinctly watched. He felt eyes on him, eyes not of the human realm, but he's had more than his fair share of the supernatural watching him before they decide to tread closer.

The issue is, he also feels those piercing eyes on Kagami and he dislikes that. He knows they're watching, he or his brother, he's not sure who they're focusing on. Maybe him, because of the divine, maybe Kagami, since he's apparently been claimed (when he meets this Aomine fellow, they're going to have words, and it is a matter of when, not if) but he doesn't like those eyes on him. There's very little he can do to protect his brother now, but he'll be damned—ha—if he lets anyone think that Taiga's up for grabs, claimed or not.

He also doesn't remember giving his blessing, so there.

"Taiga," he smiles lightly at the man, beckoning him closer. Kagami obeys, bright smile on his lips.

"Yeah, Tatsuya?" Himuro motions him to lean down and he does. He raises a hand, covering his lips as he leans into his brother.

"Tell me, Taiga, do you fancy anyone? I hear Aomine is quite the handsome devil~" Taiga pulls away abruptly, face blinding red and Himuro feels proud of himself for upholding his duty as the big brother.

"Tat—Tatsuya! That's not—this—I—No! No way! I don't wanna talk about this!" He crosses his arms stubbornly, still pink, and Himuro can't help but laugh, pleased.

The eyes burn in their intensity and Himuro wonders if he'll be receiving an enraged visitor before the day's out.

"Let's go home then. You made dinner, didn't you?" He wraps an arm around his brother's shoulders, Kagami slouching to accommodate his slightly shorter frame. "You need to introduce me to Senpai."

"Yeah, I did—wait," Kagami narrows his eyes and Himuro quirks his visible brow. "Midorima's not joining us, is he?"

"I'm sure he'd be willing to—"

"No! No, no, it's fine!" Himuro laughs again and Kagami sags. "Tatsuya, why're you so mean to me? I haven't seen you in weeks and all you're doing in tormenting me!"

"It's my job, after-all. Now then, let's go back," Himuro drops his arm, settling his hands in the sleeves of his robes. "I'm tired after all that. Starving too."

"I made your favorite," Kagami offers, glancing from the corner of his eye. Himuro nods, accepting the gift.

"Oh, by the way," Himuro murmurs as they set off. Kagami looks over at him. "I heard from our Master." Kagami freezes, stock-still, horror painted on his face, jaw slack. Himuro smiles, continuing to walk. "Be prepared." Kagami keens. "A month or so, I'm willing to bet." Kagami hangs his head, shoulders shaking as he whimpers. Himuro continues walking. "Come along, Taiga, we can't leave Kasamatsu-san waiting."

"Gods take me," he hears his brother whisper, steps slow and lumbering behind him.

"Don't voice that wish aloud, Taiga, for the demons will come instead. Or, is that what you're hoping for? Is there something you're not telling me about this Aomine fellow, hmm?"

"H-he—but—but—Gaaaah!" he scrubbed hard through his hair, Himuro glancing back at him. "At this point, I think I might go willingly!" Himuro snorts. "I'm serious, Tatsuya! I'm not kidding! Please, tell me you're joking!"

"Afraid not," Himuro raised his shoulders in a shrug, humming lowly. "Best start preparing." Kagami whines again.

* * *

Aomine scowled, lips pressed together tightly. "What?"

The blond before him, grins, a smile filled with sharp teeth. "Sorry, Aominecchi, but that's what I saw," he lifted a clawed hand, a small orb glowing into life before rising and expanding with the kitsune's power, twin tails twirling as he shifted more comfortably on the couch. "See?" Through the glass, Aomine can see Kagami and a pretty raven, half his face covered by his hair. He's dressed, however, in the dark robes of a Shinto priest. Aomine glowers at the blond, who waves his free hand. "They're not bound as the Catholics are, Aominecchi, you know that." Aomine snorts, gaze shifting back to how close the two look, Kagami obviously happy and pleased, chattering as the raven walks alongside him, touching him so damn casually. He growls. "Ah, wait for it, it gets better," the fox smiles, sharp teeth glittering in mischief.

But Aomine can't look away, watching the orb, watching the redhead he's claimed as his, watching the raven lean in, a coy look on his face.

And then Kagami's lurching back, blushing heavily and waving his hands, stammering, while the raven merely smiles and laughs.

He sees red.

"Woah! Aominecchi! Wait up! Stop!" He feels the pressure on his shoulder, his arms, but he ignores them, fully intending on finding the redhead again and showing that pretty boy why you don't mess with what's his. "Stop! Hold on! Momoicchi! Help!"

The whack to his head brings him back, but now he's glowering down at the pinkette, her eyes just as red as his. "Satsuki," he growls low, fingers twitching and clawed.

"Dai-chan," she pouted back. "What's got you all riled up?" He sends a dirty look to Kise and the blond blinks back with a confused 'Eh?' and she sighs heavily. "So you did end up watching him today, Ki-chan…"

"I was interested in finding out about Aominecchi's unrequited love!" the blond defends himself, only earning another glare from the tanned man, his nostrils flaring at the accusation. "Well, he hasn't exactly reciprocated, has he?"

"Yet."

Kise clicked his tongue, fingers flicking and then the orb is back, showing the redhead lurching towards the raven as he steps off the train, hugging him fiercely, lifting him a few inches off the ground. Momoi whistles low and Aomine glowers at the little glass ball until it shatters. "A-Aominecchi! Don't break my stuff!" but the blond pulled his hand back, still clean and safe from the smattering of glass. "Such a temper…"

"Now now, Dai-chan, just because Kagami-san already has a lover, it doesn't—Don't you look at me like that!" she smacked his arms this time, but his glare doesn't let up, eyes still burning red and his sclera beginning to bleed black. "Dai-chan! Don't get mad! Kagami-san's already taken, and it's not like you'll never find someone else you're interested in!" He huffs, turning and stalking away, shoulders working. "Dai-chan, don't you walk—Dai-chan!" She turned towards Kise, and exasperated sigh leaving her cheeks. "Keep watching him, huh, Ki-chan?" The kitsune saluted cheekily and she narrowed her eyes for a moment before following after the volatile ganguro.

He raised up his hand once more, orb returning to existence, watching as the two amble up towards a house calmly. The door opens before they get there, a shadow of a man in the darkness before he takes a step out.

Kise blinks, enlarging the orb and taking in this stranger for a long, appraising moment, before a smile curls on his lips.

He doesn't suppose Aominecchi would mind if he took a trip to the human realm—to better observe, of-course. He was told to keep an eye on the redhead, and wouldn't it be better if he could sneakily get in close and see if all is as it appears to be?

First on his list to interrogate is that man.

Notes:

I do apologize for how it's all broken up, but once I get further into the story, where everything's been mostly introduced and we get out of these first couple chapters, they'll be longer and flow MUCH better!

Special thanks to Kise for making me update the tags because of his promiscuous behavior. Such a blessing. (And this'll probs be the last of THAT since he's already pretty interested in everyone's favorite bushy-browed senpai. Thank the Lord.)

Feel free to comment or come bother me with questions on my tumblr~

Chapter 4

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Gu-guji must—Guji must—he must return! At once! Please! I must speak with Guji!" Midorima clicked his tongue at the frantic woman over his phone.

He knew having one of those priests would only bring bad luck.

"Woman, calm yourself and explain to me the prob—"

"Please! Guji must return at once to the shrine! Please!" She was crying now. Fantastic. He disliked dealing with shrine maidens, even less when they were blubbering fools. "Guji must return! He's the only one who can protect—protect us from this monster! Pl-please!"

Midorima's scowl lessened somewhat, tilted his ear closer to the receiver. "I beg your pardon, young lady?"

"A demon has come! To the shrine! Guji must return! Please, he is in Oura, you must send him back!" This priest is here for aday and already his province is falling apart without him.

What power he must possess.

"I shall inform him, Miss. Calm yourself."

"Thank you, thank you…" He huffed when the receiver clicked, signifying she ended the call. How rude. He replaced the telephone, ambling towards his front door before pausing. Yukio had a phone, didn't he? Well, it would save him the trouble, if he only remembered the boy's number… Now he had to walk.

* * *

Kasamatsu had just leaned back, hands crossed over the hoe, face tilted up towards the sun, when he felt the presence beside him. "Bout time you came out and helped, you baka," he scoffed, tilting his head to glower at his apprentice.

Gold gazed back at him. "Oh? Were you expecting me?"

Kasamatsu stumbled back, blinking rapidly. "N-no! Sorry! I—I thought you were someone else! Forgive me!" The blond laughed, golden eyes watching him curiously. "Sor-sorry, can I—can I help you?" He looked wealthy. The fact that he was blond and so fair immediately said foreigner, and didn't a wealthy foreigner just move into the manor? "Stre—Streiland-san?" He stumbled over the pronunciation, he knew that, but he hoped the man understood that as a common carpenter in a small town known only for its Catholic cathedral, they didn't often get visitors.

"Hmm, can you?" The man raised a well-manicured hand up, tapping lightly at his chin. "I wonder…" Kasamatsu swallowed down the impulse to, one, glare, two, yell, and three, possibly whack him upside his pretty head.

He looked frivolous. He was a foreigner—his speech was impeccable nevertheless—and his suit even Kasamatsu knew was expensive, probably the style over on the mainland. "Did the manor need repairs?"

"Probably, but that's not why I'm here," the man waved a hand, dismissing the notion, but his golden eyes glittered. "Mister…?"

"Ah, forgive me. It's a pleasure to meet you, I am Kasamatsu Yukio." He bowed, as was proper, and the stranger's smile widened.

"Yukio-san." Kasamatsu twitched, brows furrowed. "My, was that too bold of me? Apologies," the man breathed, and Kasamatsu had the distinct impression he wasn't actually sorry in the slightest. Not since that glint remained in his eyes.

"Senpai!" The air rattled with the redhead's voice, both he and the foreigner looking to the house. "Senpai, there's a call for you!" Kasamatsu gave the blond a nod of his head, marching towards the house.

"Say, Senpai," the blond hummed when he got three steps away. "I'd love to know more about you. Will you indulge me?"

Kasamatsu paused, looking over his shoulder, brows knitted close together. The man was still standing there, a smile playing on his lips, but there was something distinctly… odd. "You're not Streiland-san, are you."

"I'm afraid not, Senpai," the blond crossed his arms lightly, smile sharpening. "But will you give in to my request?"

Kasamatsu didn't like being played the fool, but this mistake was his own. "Then who are you?"

The man's feature's sharpened, golden eyes widening and pupils slit. In a single stride, he was next to the raven, long fingers tilting up his chin, grinning down at the startled expression the carpenter now wore. He stood over him by a few inches, his gaze intent and focused. Kasamatsu felt distinctly out of place, with this man staring down at him as if he could see into his soul. "I'm Ryouta, nice to meet you," the man purred, smile dangerous. "So, will you let me know you, Senpai?"

The word he was looking for was predatory.

Kasamatsu glared, raising a hand and swatting the blond away, stepping back. "Too close. If you're not here about work, then leave. I'm busy." He pointed towards the side yard the man had no doubt walked down to reach him. "Shoo."

The blond blinked hard, lips dropping open. Almost baffled. It looked hilarious on this well-dressed stranger and Kasamatsu marked it as his win.

"I don't got time for you, I'm already dealing with enough things. So just—"

"Yukio, say, Hanari-san is pleasant and all, but it seems she must speak with you," Himuro smiled from the doorway. "Aren't you coming?" Kasamatsu looked back to the blond, seeing only his empty yard instead. His eyes narrowed, lips pressed in a tight line.

"Coming."

* * *

Seated upon the stone fence surrounding the village proper, the blond dug his heels into the wall, elbows braced on his knees, watching as the raven moved towards the house, passing by the pretty priest wordlessly. The priest himself stayed there for a moment longer, visible eye looking around curiously, before following after the dark haired carpenter, the door shutting behind them.

With a flick of his wrist, the small glass ball formed in Ryouta's hand, growing slightly and allowing its Master access to the world. In this case, it showed the inside of the small house: Aominecchi's redhead was at the stove, stirring something (how interesting, he could cook) and Senpai moved towards the phone, raising the receiver up. The priest walked in then, settling himself at the table. "Hanari-san, hello. What? Oh, is he? That's fine. Yes, hello, Midorima-san. I beg you—sure. Tatsuya." The priest tilted his head and he didn't like how they so casually used each other's given names. "It's for you, apparently." Senpai seemed confused and his lips curled into a smile, relishing in the expression.

"Is it?" They switched, his raven moving towards Aominecchi's redhead, leaning around him to peek at the pot. "Hello? Oh, Mido—Oh. I see. No, thank you. Yes, I'll be leaving immediately then." The spoon clattered to the floor, Kagami whirling around, looking stricken. The priest smiled prettily. "I thank you, Midorima-san." He returned the telephone to the base, slipping his hands into the sleeves of his robe. "Apologies, Taiga, but it seems—"

"But you just got here! Tatsuya! I haven't seen you in months, and now you have to go back!?" Mm, well, Aominecchi probably wouldn't like this development.

"Sorry, Taiga, but I must. It seems a demon has come to the shrine, so I must return at once, to keep my village safe."Kagami's expression immediately dropped, hands curled into fists at his side. "But now that you're so close by, I can hardly stay away, can I?" Both smiled warmly and he came to the conclusion that yeah, Aominecchi really wouldn't like this.

He wouldn't like this at all.

On the bright side, that left Senpai all to him and the Shinto priest couldn't interfere further.

* * *

Himuro hurried towards the station, luggage in hand as he strode down the wide streets of Oura. As much as he hated to leave so quickly, if there was a problem, he had to go back. It was his duty after-all. Bound into this family by blood, and bound to the shrine by both duty and oaths, technically his even leaving was something he shouldn't have done in the first place. He'd been gone for five days and already the worst has befallen his territory. He didn't know the extent, but if even Yona was hysterical, it wasn't good.

And why would a demon even take over his shrine? The village and the mountain he could understand, but the shrine was blessed and charmed and even his residual energy would have dissuaded even the stubborn demons.

However, Midorima had said there were stronger demons returning…

"Oh, sorry, my mistake," he flashed a smile at the man he bumped shoulders with. The blond smiled back easily.

"It's not a problem!" Himuro paused, gazing at him for a moment, the odd energy swirling around this foreigner. The man gazed back before raising a brow. Himuro gave a quick nod, continuing on his way.

It wasn't a problem. Demon though he may be, it wasn't the demon Taiga feared. Aomine was dark: dark hair, dark eyes, dark skin, dark smile. This man was light. This wasn't Aomine Daiki.

So it wasn't his problem.

If the demon was strong enough to mask himself like that, Midorima could no doubt feel him. And since the priest hadn't been concerned earlier in the day, it wasn't worth worrying about. He had his own problems to deal with, let the grouchy Catholic deal with the golden one here.

The whistle blew as he heard the train pull into the station and he picked up his pace, hurrying down the street once again questioning the validity of the long robes of his status.

* * *

Golden eyes watched as the priest disappeared into the station, smile becoming feral as the disguise melted away. His form was invisible to those around him, no one remarking on the elegant kimono-clad man walking easily down the street, twin golden tails and fur tipped ears atop his head twitching. He was beautiful like this and should he desire it, he could ruin this entire town with his curse.

But that wouldn't be any fun. He liked challenges and he liked when he was able to break apart his newest game little by little. Senpai would no doubt be an unwilling player, but Ryouta could be sneaky and persuasive. He'd been told that it was a joy to be unraveled by him—but most of his other mates hadn't been nearly as interesting as Senpai. Beautiful, yes, but they gave in far too easily for him to have any fun.

They also hadn't looked at him like Senpai had, with annoyance in his eyes and desire the farthest thing from his mind.

His lips curled up further as he moved down the street fluidly, the carpenter's house coming into view before he leaped, landing silently on the great wall around the town and settling back on it, the picture of elegance as his magic went to work once again. Aominecchi's redhead was at the table, gulping down bowls of his soup while Senpai worked slowly, calmly eating and berating his apprentice for his horrible table manners.

Well. Now that the priest was gone, this would be fun, now wouldn't it?

* * *

Four days later, when Himuro finally returned to his home, the village was silent.

Notes:

Woooow. It's been awhile.  
So guess what I did instead of doing this~? Started another supernatural KnB fic! Still AoKaga, but the focus this time is MuraHimu.  
As my lovely friend ChildOfTheStar pointed out, I put Kagami in the middle of allll the messes. Whoops~  
I do apologize for the shortness, but this was sitting in my files for awhile now so I figured it be better to be shor tthan wait another month, yeah?  
So! Hope you enjoyed! Thank you for reading! Until the next time!

Chapter 5

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Himuro moved slowly, walking down the center road quietly. His steps echoed dully on the hard packed dirt and stone, watching the houses on either side intently. Small shops and restaurants were spaced evenly between the homes of his village, curtains fluttering in the broken windows, doors hanging off their hinges and creaking in the wind. Through some of the open doorways, he saw tables and chairs upturned and broken, the building abandoned in haste.

Up ahead, rising above the village, was the shrine, the wooden arch and steps untouched, the simple temple still as he left it.

"Hello?" he raised his voice, listening to it echo in the silence. "Hello, is anyone around?" Movement from a house ahead sent him drawing back, letting his bag drop onto the cobblestones, moving purposefully forward. "I have returned from Oura, what has happened to my village?"

"Gu-guji?" a small form peeked out from behind the door. "Guji has returned!" The child rushed out, his parents and others trailing behind them, relief easing their bodies and sighs escaping their lips, smiles beginning to form as tears flowed. "Guji!" the boy rocketed into his legs, clinging tight to his robes and sobbing. "Guji, a monster came!" Himuro smiled gently down at the boy, hands coming up to pat fondly at his head. The child continued to cry and he then raised his face, looking to the villagers he'd grown to know these past years.

"Tell me. What happened?"

* * *

Himuro eased open the door to his home, stepping in and sliding it closed behind him, setting his bag down in the entry way. "Yona, I've returned."

No one answered, not that he expected her to. They had told him she had fled (the shrine maiden leaving her shrine) and he doubted she would return soon, even though the villagers all left to the surrounding towns to proclaim his return.

It was quiet in his simple home and he stepped down the hallway, sliding open the shoji to his living room and hearing the movement from his kitchen. He quirked a brow.

"Hello?"

"…oh." A man peered over his counter, eyes drooped and dull. Himuro smiled lightly, slipping his hands into the sleeves of his robe. "You're back." They gazed at each other for a moment longer before the man disappeared, rooting through his cabinets once more.

"Indeed. Can I help you?"

"Mmm… naaaah."

Himuro stepped closer to his kitchen, peering over the counter at the man nearly curled in on himself to root through his cupboard. "Do you need something to eat? I'm afraid I don't have much on hand, but I'm sure the villagers wouldn't mind sharing a little." The man stopping moving aside containers to pull his head out, violet hair fluttering around his shoulders, equally purple eyes raising to look up at the priest. "Yes?" The man nodded curtly and Himuro straightened up. "Very well. Then I ask you please make yourself comfortable until my return—what did you say your name was?"

"Mm…" The man rose slowly, rising up—and up, and up. Himuro craned his neck, smile still playing about his lips. "Murasakibara." Himuro continued smiling, waiting for the rest of it. The man gazed back at him blankly. Another moment, and the stranger's brows furrowed, head tilting down a bit. Himuro kept smiling. "…Atsushi."

"Atsushi. Please," Himuro stepped aside, motioned to his simple living room, a couch settled in the space, a low table with cushions before it. "I shall be back shortly. I am Himuro Tatsuya."

Himuro knew full well he had a demon seated in his living room, slouched on his couch and staring out the window boredly. He also knew full well he just promised to feed said demon.

No one had ever said he was a conventional priest.

* * *

"Tiger~" a low voice purred and Kagami jerked away, whirling around to blink rapidly at the dark man leaning casually against the wall of the Nishimura house. "Miss me?"

"You," Kagami growled and Aomine's grin widened. "Go away! I'm working!" Kagami held up the roof tiles, scowling at the man—demon—and shaking his head. "Honestly." He turned his back, normally a bad idea, but he didn't care at this point. Aomine didn't seem to have any intention on killing him, so he'd treat the demon like everyone else that annoyed him. To be honest, he wasn't sure what the demon wanted form him, just that he was "interested" in him and it was pissing him off. "Don't bother me when I'm working!"

"Is everything alright, Taiga-kun?" a woman's voice floated from the window and if it had been a younger voice, Aomine would have scowled himself.

"Yes, everything's fine, Nishimura-san!" Kagami huffed, shooting a dark look at the demon before moving towards the ladder, roof tiles placed gently in the pail on the pulley. "You're causing trouble, go away."

"Never, Tiger," Aomine watched his chosen begin climbing up the ladder, raising a brow, smirk growing as he watched the redhead's posterior sway deliciously. "You're too much fun."

"Then be useful," the redhead paused when he reached the roof, frowning down at him, before stepping up. The rope slipped, the pulley working as the bucket was raised up to the roof. "Stack more—carefully!—in the bucket when I need them, can you do that? Or do I need to call Tatsuya and tell him he needs to come back and actually do his job?" Aomine was up the ladder and hovering over the redhead's crouched form in seconds, blue eyes glittering in the sunlight. "Oi! I said—"

"Don't speak his name so casually, Taiga."

There was a long moment of Kagami pinned to the roof, red eyes wide and blinking fast, jaw slack as the demon stared down at him, expression blank and utterly unamused. Then, rage.

And Aomine was sprawled on his back in the grass, gazing up at the blue sky above him, a little lost on how he got there. A slight shadow hovered above him. "Serves you right, Ahomine! I'm not yours or whatever, so I won't take any shit from you!"

"Taiga-kun, is everything okay? Did you fall? Shall I fetch some bandages?" the withered voice of Nishimura Fumio murmured from the house.

"Everything's fine, Nishimura-san, thank you!" He sent one more glare to Aomine, snorted, then crawled back up the roof. The click of tiles was heard next as Aomine slowly sat up, cracking his back and rolling his neck and shoulders experimentally.

A feral grin slipped onto his lips, teeth sharpening and eyes beginning to bleed red.

"Oh man…" His laugh started slow, chuckles at first before growing and swelling. The shadow returned, Kagami scowling down at him from his height advantage, watching the man losing it below him. "Oh man, Tiger! I knew I picked right! You're totally my type! I like it! You got some fire to you!" Kagami stared down at him, even less amused than before. A glance to his left as the demon continued laughing manically brought a piece of broken roof tile into his view. He lifted it, weighing it briefly in his palm before aiming for the bluenet's head. "I'll make you mine yet—" Kagami put his strength into his throw, not able to miss at this distance. "Ow! The hell!?" Aomine glared down at the tile now innocently in his own palm. The shadow above him disappeared. "Tiger, you didn't throw this, did you?"

"I'm working on a broken roof, Ahomine, what do you think happened?" the man's voice was too amused and Aomine's smile returned, dropping the tile and moving towards the bucket, stacking it slowly with tiles. "Oh? Are you being useful, Ahomine?"

"Say my name right, and I might be, Bakagami."

"Taiga-kun, is that Yukio-kun? Yukio-kun, have you come to help?"

"No, Nishimura-san, it's just Aomine!" Kagami called from the roof.

"Ohh, I see. I'll make sandwiches then!" Aomine grinned at the woman who had puttered through her house to reach the backdoor. The elder smiled gently, her form so much smaller than the two of them, nearly blind with glasses far too big for her face. "Oh, why, hello dear. Are you Taiga-kun's friend? My my, what a surprise! Come in! Have some tea! Come, come!" Kagami snorted as she grabbed hold of his arm, pulling him into her home with a strength he wasn't expecting. "Aren't you handsome! Why, you and Taiga-kun, so handsome! I'm sure you'll find pretty girls in no time at-all! Yukio-kun too, such a sweetheart!"

On the city's high surrounding wall, Kise snickered into the sleeve of his kimono, watching Aomine stumble into the house before being pushing into a chair, managing a small "thank you" as a cup was slid towards him. The woman immediately set into about her neighbor's granddaughter and how nice it would be if she could find someone because "she's such a beautiful young lady, I'm sure she'd make the perfect wife!" One clawed hand held the small glass sphere aloft, the woman watching from the other side no doubt enjoying this immensely; the blond knew he was.

Golden eyes shifted away from the Nishimura home to the carpenter's house, watching the raven working in the small garden in their yard once more, the top of his yukuta dangling around his waist, left only in a dark undershirt and his trousers.

A dark undershirt that clung in the heat and outlined his fit form spectacularly. Kise found himself licking at his lips, golden eyes narrowing as he watched the man's movements, muscles shifting and tensing as he worked, painting a fantastic picture for the kitsune.

It might take some time, but he knew the man would come around. They always did.

* * *

"More, Atsushi?" The demon held out his bowl silently and Himuro scooped more rice into it.

When he'd gone to collect some ingredients from the town, they gladly gave it to him, begging him to offer the monster food in exchange for his leaving. Himuro calmly agreed he would do what he could and they were relieved at his promise.

But to be fair, if Atsushi didn't want to go, Himuro would have no way to force him, short of attempting hand-to-hand combat. He was a pretty face, to be sure, and fantastically learned with both literature and what his duties as a priest would entail, but brawling was not exactly his forte. He was decent with a sword and staff, but better with a bow. He doubted the giant would agree to stand still and far enough away.

"So what brought you here, exactly, Atsushi?" Himuro picked up his own bowl of rice, eating quietly, visible eye trained on the demon.

"Moouuu…" the violette let the bowl drop, eyes drooped and blank, a few grains of rice dotting his cheeks. Himuro raised a brow—this was the demon that came through and caused such destruction? "'s quiet…" His brows furrowed, shoulders slumping a little further, eyes narrowing down at the table. "Thought Masa… would be here…"

"Masa?" Himuro let his own bowl lower, gazing curiously at the man. "A friend of yours?" Murasakibara nodded slowly, eyes raising to slide towards the window, glancing at the small garden. Himuro followed, before looking back at him. "How long has it been since you've seen them?"

He wasn't prepared for the darkness to enter the man's—demon's—eyes, violet darkening to almost black, lips pulling into a severe frown as he glared down at the small table once more. His bowl clattered to the side, hands instead curled into fists. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and his words were hissed: "Fifty years."

"I'm sorry. Do you know if they're still around?" Himuro was concerned, yes, possibly in some fear for his life and village, but here, in the shrine, where holy energy swirled, the demon began to slowly calm, his anger leaving him drained. Himuro had met priests, all much older than him and skilled, but he had a natural gift and a talent for it. He controlled all that went on here, in his home. He'd honestly be terrible at his job if he couldn't even influence the emotions of those around him in ashrine.

Murasakibara picked up his bowl, poking at his rice quietly. "…would've found me by now… I made a lot of noise."

Ah. So it was an effort to get his friend's attention.

"You can't rampage in a village just to get your friend's attention, Atsushi. All my neighbors were scared witless."

"They're just humans," the giant huffed irritably, frowning down at his lunch. "Started screaming when they saw me…" Well, given his massive size and the armor he had shed in a corner, Himuro agrees they probably had the right reaction.

"Perhaps if you had asked if they knew about your friend, they might've been able to help?" Himuro suggested quietly. If they were given a task and that task led to the possible departure of the giant, Himuro had no doubt they would've beenmore than helpful. Like with how generous they had been with giving him rice and meat and fish.

"Wouldn't let me," Murasakibara drawled lowly. Himuro quirked a brow. "Got too scared." Well. Yes, that sounds about right. "But everyone knows Masa."

Himuro tilted his head, blinking. "Is that right?"

"Mmm…" he picked up his bowl, beginning to eat once again. "Masa's the mountain goddess," he muttered around a large mouthful.

Himuro settled upright on his cushion, smile pleasant. "You mean our local mountain?" Himuro waited until the man across from him nodded. He motioned out the window, towards the mountain that rose up behind his shrine. "This mountain?" Another simple nod, Murasakibara eyeing him. "You're talking about Lady Masako."

"Mm. Masa-chin made good cake…"

Himuro needed to lie down.

"And… given she's, ah, not here?" Himuro began, Murasakibara's eyes slanting in distaste. "What will you do?" The bowl was set gently down—for once—and the demon stared at him intently. "More rice?" Himuro turned to the pot, raising the spoon.

Murasakibara seemed to be thinking, given he raised a hand to wave off his fourth helping of rice. The hand rose further, holding his chin, the backs of his fingers pressed against his lips, brows knitted close in thought. A low hum and then, "Muro-chin's a good cook. I'll stay here."

"You'll what."

Notes:

It's been awhile, yeah? Welll, classes end tomorrow, so I have the next five weeks to plan this out better~  
I think I'm gonna start uploading this in tandem with "Another World" just because they're both so very similar.

Well! I hope you enjoyed! Thank you for reading, until the next time~!

Chapter 6

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The world hadn't changed so much in fifty years, Akashi found himself thinking. Humans were as he remembered, the villages looked the same, and his aura was just as strong, just as intimidating. His red hair, odd to see in the rural areas, put the humans on guard. His kimonos were just as lavish, sending them further into their homes, watching cautiously through windows.

However, there were changes. Small, nearly insignificant, but noteworthy all the same.

The only drastic, major change was his home, his manor that he had resided in for almost three decades, smelled disgustingly of human and divine.

Some idiot, while he was away, laid claim to his home, tore it apart, ripped it down, and had went an built a temple where it had once stood. And then went and abandoned it, holes ripped in its smaller walls, scorches marring it's exterior.

Fools.

They obviously forgot their place. While true, he'd been gone for a generation, but that hardly meant that his land and the people who resided within his claimed territory could forget him so easily. How dare they forget who they were dealing with.

He'd be sure to correct their flawed way of thinking.

* * *

"Hey, Kagami," the redhead perked, looking over at the raven just stepping in from the garden, a scowl on his face. "Did your buddy bring a friend?"

Kagami blinked, stirring their leftover lunch idly. There'd been a lot leftover and he didn't mind having it for dinner. "Tatsuya? No…" The scowl on his elder's face deepened and he frowned. "…why?" he questioned slowly.

"Not him, that demon in love with you," Kasamatsu growled, kicking the door shut and undoing his yukata and pulling his shirt over his head, bare feet padding towards his small room in the back of the house.

Kagami, who had learned much from his senior during his so far short stay, growled as well. "And just what did that stupid idiot do now?"

"Oh? Has he come back then? Tatsuya's only been gone a few days," Kasamatsu's voice was muffled from across the house. "No, some frilly blond's been showing up and bothering me. Did he ever mention a 'Ryouta'?"

Kagami's forked brows furrowed, murmuring the name under his breath. "No, he's not really much of a conversationalist," was his response. His senior returned, a traditional pale gray yukata over a navy undershirt, black obi binding it closed, trousers left behind as their work was done for the day. "Are you visiting, Senpai?"

"Yes, I'll be back in a little bit. If someone should come, tell them I'm available in three days' time," Kasamatsu slipped into his sandals, hands resting lightly in his sleeves. "I shouldn't be gone long," he displaced his hands, reaching for the door. "Yoka-oji-san's been asking for me. I'll stop by Midorima-san's to make sure he's doing fine."

"Tell Yoka-san I said hello," was the redhead's farewell. A nod from his senior, and then Kagami was left in the quiet of their home, watching the raven make his way down the road leisurely. "Ryouta, huh? Hmmm…"

Their telephone's sudden shriek sent him lunging across the room, picking it up hastily and hunching his shoulders. "H-hello?" He grinned. "Tatsuya! Is everything okay? You left so quickly, I was worried! Hm? Oh, is that so? So everything's okay? What?" He furrowed his brow at the low voice in the background. "Tatsuya? Who's that?" He let his body slack, standing up straighter, smile still on his lips. "A roommate, huh? And they're okay staying in a shrine? Ah, well, I know I wouldn't really like it, but that's just—Hey! I wouldn't make a good priest! That's why you're there!" He scowled, shoulders hunching up to his ears as he pouted. "Yeah, yeah… Uh-huh… uh-huh… What? Wait, why'd he call you? Well, no, it's just, we're friends and you two are just—Oi, that's not what I meant! Fine, fine! Did he leave a number? No, it's just the same then. No, I'll call him. I haven't seen him in a while. Well, jeez, Tatsuya, it's not like he doesn't live on the other side of the mountain and takes a good three days to walk!" He rolled his eyes. "No, I'll get on that. Senpai's out visiting. Alright. Alright, I'll talk to you in a few days, Tatsuya. Take care of yourself, okay? No, of-course I'm worried about you! Bye!" He slammed the receiver down, huffing as he stared at the telephone.

He loved his brother, honest he did, but sometimes he loved annoying him too much and it was just better to walk away—or, well, hang up.

Which left him crossing their home once again, making sure their dinner didn't boil over before calling his other troublesome friend.

* * *

"Tiger~" Kagami shuddered at the drawl, brows dipping down as he tensed, looking around before zeroing in on the man resting casually along the stone wall. "Miss me?"

"How could I? You've barely left me alone," Kagami scowled, lips curling in a frown before he turned his head. Attempting to ignore the demon would just make him laugh and try harder—until he was literally on top of the redhead in an attempt to interfere—but he didn't want to encourage him either. Remembering his conversation from the other day, he lifted his head, expression cleared of his typical scowl. Aomine raised a brow, expression perking. "You friends with Ryouta?" The demon's expression darkened, the man sitting up to frown down at him, chin raised. "Is that a 'no' then, Ahomine?" Kagami breezed, looking away to lean over the table, his tools in hand as he returned to measuring.

"What did he do to you, Taiga?" Kagami raised a hand, waving it slightly, dismissing the question. He didn't realize the low tone the demon asked in, didn't realize how his features had darkened, eyes glinting red.

"Just curious is all. I'll mark that as a 'yes', huh?" Oddly enough, he was beginning to learn what could be said to the dark-skinned male to rile him up. Apparently this 'Ryouta' could be added to the list. Interesting. "He a demon like you?" Hands on his waist sent him straight upright, cheeks blazing as a form pressed against him. "Oi! Ahomine—"

"Like me? No, not like me. Demon, sure, to an extent," was breathed against his neck. Kagami shoved an elbow back and was satisfied by the pained 'oof,' gazing over his shoulder in contempt as the man now gasping for breath, doubled over and glaring up at him. "The hell, Tiger?" was his complaint.

"A simple yes or no would've been fine!" He glared once again for good measure, shaking his head as he returned to his work. "And stop bothering me while I'm working. It's getting annoying."

"So I can bother you at home?"

"Senpai will kick your ass," Kagami drawled, eyes shifting between his notes and measurements before returning to the wood he was marking. "But feel free to try." He didn't need to look behind him to see the demon wasn't concerned with his senior's strength. Well, that would be fun, should he ever try.

"So you'd cook for me, Tiger?" Kagami snorted. "You'd make such a good wife," but Kagami heard how his tone shifted into something darker.

He, however, was in a good mood and it wasn't going to be ruined by a demon who couldn't keep his hands to himself. "I'd poison your dinner—but feel free to try. On that note, just keep your friend away from Senpai. He's starting to get annoyed."

"Ohh? You worried about him?"

"No, worried about the Pretty Boy," Kagami huffed, standing straight and rolling his shoulders, leaning to grab the other portion of the window frame he was building, lining the pieces up and narrowing his eyes on them, shifting to take it in at different angles. "Senpai can be pretty vicious. Ryouta won't last very long if he actually pisses him off."

"Kise."

"What?" Kagami tilted his head, looking back at the blunet behind him. Aomine's dark eyes watched him blankly, arms crossed but form oddly relaxed.

"Kise Ryouta."

Kagami stared at him for a long moment. "Okay…" He furrowed his brows, watching for another moment before shaking his head, returning to his work. "Anyway, he keeps popping up and I think Senpai is honestly considering kicking him." Aomine snorted and Kagami moved around his table, going to his tools, crouching down and looking them over. "He even tried to join us for lunch yesterday. Senpai slammed the door in his face. He's persistent, I'll give him that, but Senpai may just snap."

"Kise can handle anything your Senpai can throw at him. I'd be more worried about him—he's just a human. Too weak."

Kagmi lurched to his feet, taking the three steps before he was in front of the dark skinned man, chin tilted up to glare at him, fingers curled in his dark shirt. Startled blue eyes gazed into red. "Then you best get him to back off, huh? Because if Senpai gets hurt because of your friend, you better be prepared for what I'll do. And sure, I know I'm just a weak human, but you'll see just what I can do when I get mad." Aomine's eyes glittered down at him. "That said," Kagami leaned back, fingers dropping from where he fisted the demon's shirt, "If we're just that pathetic, why're you still sticking around, huh?"

Aomine leaned in, the fingers on the back of Kagami's neck holding him in place, like they had two weeks ago—had it really only been two weeks since he first met Aomine? It felt like much longer. "Because you're fun," the demon breathed, Kagami not liking the spark in his eyes. "Not many humans look at us like you do."

"Yeah? What, with contempt?"

"With defiance," Aomine smiled, his teeth glittering in the light. "That's what makes you fun." Kagami was entirely unamused and he hoped his expressed conveyed as much. "See? You don't even care that I could break you so easily," Aomine slid his hand down Kagami's spine, following the curve of his body, muscles tensing under his hand, before he settled on the small of the redhead's back, drawing him closer.

Kagami's crimson eyes slanted, lips pressed tight in a frown. "I don't like you."

Aomine snorted a laugh, hand dropping away as he stepped back, crossing his arms over his chest once more. "That's what makes it fun! I'll break through you yet, just watch, Tiger~"

"Don't hold your breath, Aho," Kagami snapped, returning to his tools and picking up a saw, lifting it and gazing down at it thoughtfully, then to the window frame. "I'd punch you if you didn't turn into mist." He crouched back down, lifting another, larger, saw. "This should do."

"Kagami-kun, Yukio-kun wanted to let you know Tetsuya-kun called back! Next week works fine! Have a good time on your trip!" A teenager leaned out the empty window, the girl grinning at him. She paused, eyes taking in the stranger, before shrugging. "Will you be leaving soon?"

"Ah, Mari! Thank you!" The redhead stood up, a wide grin on his face. The girl grinned back. "Well, I still gotta finish this up, then I'll be over at Midorima's, but two days I think, right?" The girl—Mari—tilted her head, humming as she raised her eyes up, tapping at her chin.

"You're not taking the train?" Kagami made a low noise in his throat. "Hmm… Two days should be right then! Have fun!" then she disappeared back into the house, leaving the carpenter alone in the yard.

Aomine didn't like the smile on the redhead's lips. "Oi, Tiger—"

"Oh, I should visit Kou while I'm at it too…" Kagami stood up, hands on his hips as he looked down at the grass. "Didn't he just move though? Maybe I'd be a bother… Hmmm…" He crossed his arms, head tilted down, brows furrowed. "It would just be a bit further, I could take the train back…"

"Tiger, are you ignoring me?"

"Go away, I'm trying to think," Kagami made a shooing motion, eyes still trained on the ground as he worked through his thoughts.

When Mari returned a few minutes after relaying her message, a tray of rice balls in hand for the carpenter's lunch, she squeaked, eyes wide, as she took in the stranger holding onto her cousin's apprentice—dipping him, actually—and kissing him square on the mouth. She turned around, leaping back into the house to call Yukio back because 'why didn't you tell me Kagami-kun was being courted, what do you mean, I just saw him being kissed in my BACKYARD, of course he's being courted, no, I'm telling Auntie about this because she will hold a party and I wanna see them happy—no, Yukio, you aren't invited because you hid this from all of us.'

She happened to miss Kagami taking a swing at the dark haired man, only to fall on his ass when he swatted at mist.

* * *

Laughter startled Midorima awake, the priest blinking slightless eyes as his hands moved around him, taking in the hard wood of his pew, then reaching forward, feeling for the one in front of him. When had he fallen asleep? What time was it?

He took in a slow, deep breath, rising steadily and moving forward. He had fallen asleep in the first row, luckily, and five steps ahead of him would be the altar. Crossing himself, he kneeled before it, hands pressed against smooth wood beneath him, head bowed. He murmured his prayers, shifting upright to sit straight, crossing himself once more. Another moment kneeling before the altar and he rose slowly, joints creaking with age. He paused to tilt his head, working out the kink in his neck.

"Midorima." He turned, milky green eyes finding the blurry golden light of the front doors and the shadow that covered a portion of it. Even without what little vision he had, he could always know that voice, that presence. A predator, he had once remarked in his youth. The intimidating aura and impressive instincts, a strength no mere human could possess.

"Aomine," he greeted blandly, brushing idly at his robes. "What brings you back here? Or did I not make myself clear the first time?"

"I'm not in your damn church, don't get huffy," the demon drawled and true, Midorima felt no presence within his church. Pressing the boundary of his circle, too alarming close, however… "This is a favor for a friend."

Midorima's lips quirked in a mirthless smile. "Is that so?" He was getting too old for this. He was seventy-one already, much too old for almost everything. But above that, he was just tired.

"You barrier is weak."

Midorima scoffed. "Is that all? Or was that something I wasn't supposed to already know, Aomine? Leave, you're bothering me."

"Weak enough that I'm here. Weak enough that Kise's here. Murasakibara's around, up in the mountains looking for that cranky old woman." He felt the boundary shift, the demon shifting closer, leaning against the frame of the open doors. "Akashi's come too."

Those were names he hadn't heard in a long time.

"Should I be expecting a visit then?"

"They don't care about you. Your power, maybe, if you were stronger. Younger. But you can't put that kinda thing out anymore. You're no threat. Hell, this here? I could break this easy. Sure, it'll be a pain, but I could." Midorima could imagine the cocky look on his dark face, could imagine how his eyes glittered at the possibility. Time changes much, but for a demon, fifty years was hardly anything. They could roam anywhere they wanted, in this world or theirs, but he'd been able to cast them from his domain. If they were lesser, pettier demons, he'd imagine they would be sore about the humiliation, their pride wounded, but he imagined they saw it more of an inconvenience than anything else. Well. Aomine had taken it personally, but he'd always been a bit unpredictable.

"So why are you here, Aomine?"

"Your time's almost up."

Midorima moved down the aisle, fingers ghosting against the tops of the pews as he strolled towards the doors, the orange-golden light getting large, focusing more. As did the shadow to its edge. "Yes. I'm aware, Aomine. But don't be bringing me flowers just yet. I am not gone."

"You're still a pain, you know that? Your hair's even still green! Well, what you have left of it," he heard the laughter in the demon's voice, knew he was grinning wickedly.

"Have you come for a reason, or just to mock an old man for aging?"

"You may have strengthened the church, but your lock won't hold for long. I'd give it less than a year. But, that's just some friendly advice." Midorima snorted at the 'friendly' bit. Aomine was hardly a paradigm of respect, but he had moments. "He asked after you."

"Who?"

"Who do you think?" He wished, not for the first time in these decades, that he could see. That he could see the look the demon was giving him, to see what his voice didn't tell him: was he angry? Neutral? Indifferent? His tone stated nonchalance, but was he really? "Well, it's not the first time anyway. But, like I said. Favor to a friend."

"And why are you going through with this?" He knew Aomine well enough. If he didn't want to do something, favor or no, he wouldn't. Demons were remarkably fickle and didn't recognize any bonds that they themselves didn't make. Family—or their finicky version of it—went only so far before they themselves chose their kin. Aomine himself didn't care for his father's family, regardless of blood, so he ignored them. Kise was close enough with his sisters and their families, and Murasakibara saw his if it was convenient or there was food involved. Akashi was… not very close with much of anyone.

"He's worried about you in your old age. You were sick a few years back?" Midorima stiffened, brows furrowing as he stopped near the last row, fingers digging into the wood. "Pretty inconsolable. Convinced you were dying. Don't know howhe knew, but that damn Kise went and used his magic to show him. Cuffed him for that one. You're welcome. You looked awful, by the way."

"Get to the point, Aomine. I do not have all day to chatter with you like that blond."

"He's here too. In town. Tiger's friend, Yukio? Don't you know him?" Midorima knew he was being taunted, knew he was being baited, but he knew both boys, he even knew Yukio's mother, for Heaven's sake, was with them both as they grew up.

"You stay away from Yukio, Aomine, you hear me?" he stepped close, the few more feet needed to stand before the demon. Age had stooped his shoulders, but he was pleased to find that he didn't feel too much of a gap in their heights. He was taller in his youth, but he still had some of his height. "For so help me, if you harm that boy, you will not like what I am capable of in my old age," he warned, voice low and threat calm.

"Don't tell me, tell that fox. He's the one determined to bed him." Midorima growled low in his throat. He could almost seethe smile on Aomine's lips. "I'll pass along the message. You might be getting a visit from Kise soon, if that's the case. He's pretty insistent."

"I will throttle him," Midorima seethed, form trembling in the beginnings of his anger. They may have been friends once, but the priest knew what Kise was capable of—he'd even seen it himself—and he'd make sure the kitsune burned before even laying a hand on the eldest Kasamatsu son.

"Well, that's nice and all. Tell me in advance and I'll come watch." Midorima took in a deep breath, shifting to the side to settle on the bench along the wall, form straight as he breathed, trying to calm himself and release the anger swelling around him. "Or we can just make it a reunion in general."

"You're trying my patience, Aomine."

"His time's almost up too." Midorima blinked open blind eyes, what was once emerald focusing up at the rafters—not that he knew. It was all darkness to him, nothing distinct. Orange flitted in his periphery, but nothing more. "So while you locked us out, his punishment was to be locked in. Did you know that?"

"How would I?" Midorima sighed. "What does it matter anyway? I hardly care what happens to him." Long fingers, thin and aged, lifted, moving towards his face before they paused, dropping upon the realization that there were no glasses slipping down his nose (an excuse to gather his thoughts in times of nervousness that he broke long ago; he didn't need spectacles anymore, now did he?). "Is that all? Or was there a point?"

"So rude in your old age, Midorima. No wonder you never settled down. Ah, but you really weren't much better years ago, now were you?"

"I am a man of the Church, Aomine. Marriage is forbidden. Or are you really that dull? Never mind. Leave. You're annoying me."

"Still so rude… Well, that's a good enough report, I guess. Old, but hasn't changed. Balding. Typical grouchy old man. Say, Midorima, would you bless the consummation of mine and Tiger's union?" Midorima rose from his bench, fingers curled to fists as he stalked towards the wide double doors, his aura shifting and strengthening, showing exactly what he thought about that. Laughter echoed in the hall walls of his church once more and then he was alone.

Notes:

After how many weeks? Wow, sorry about that. So hey, fun fact: during breaks, i usually lose all motivation. I always forget about that. Semester's started back up, but it's looking like I'll actually be doing work for once, so that actually kinda sucks. I hate projects.

Well! This was a fun chapter! We've gotten to all the demons(more or less) and most of the rest of them(just two more to go~) and then we'll REALLY be having fun!

I'm trying to figure out how I wanna set these up. Obviously it'll be awhile until I get all of them together in the same place, so breaking it into sections seems the best way, but I don't like the abruptness of it... I'll see about planning ahead a little more, so the breaks are more... natural's not the right word, but flow better I guess.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask! If you've seen any of the previous comments, I answer all questions and may even give hints and nudges about the future coming up~! If you haven't already, I have another supernatural KnB AU (modern this time around) up called "Another World" and I'm really liking how it's been going so far!

Thank you so much for reading, and until the next time, enjoy!

Chapter 7

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The morning he left was bright, silent, and clear. Aomine was nowhere in sight and Kagami let himself smile, moving further away from his home as he headed towards the mountains in the distance. It would be easier to use the train, but he never liked the metal contraption, feeling too trapped, surrounded by so many others. He didn't mind walking, honestly, so walking he would do. If he really moved, he should reach Nishiyama by nightfall and that would place him right at the base of the mountain. Another day would take him the partial journey over the mountain, maybe into the night where he would camp, and then he should reach Tetsuya's town in the valley by the next evening.

This was all very hypothetical and very positive thinking on his part, but he wanted to be there in three days, so he'd sure try to make that happen. Tetsuya would understand any delays, given it would take him a week to reach Oura. But Kagami was hoping that because his town was right in the valley, it would be a faster trek than if Tetsuya lived further away from the mountain, like Kou. Kagami did plan on visiting, now that his old friend was so close, but he'd wait til he reached Tetsuya—who knows, the sneaky blue haired ghost might even want to join him.

In which case, he'd have to phone Kasamatsu and let him know he'd be out for maybe another two weeks…

But a week with his friend, no demons in sight, sounded like a really good time. He was looking forward to it.

* * *

Kasamatsu enjoyed sleeping in. With Kagami gone, the redhead had helped in the garden, so all he had to do was water it later today. His roommate had even cooked lots of extras for him to heat back up so he wouldn't starve, and he had no jobs today. It wasn't uncommon, really, but with the stretch of summer storms they'd had, they'd been so busy with repairs. It was nice, getting to sleep in.

Except someone was pounding on his door.

He rolled out of bed, shirt discarded somewhere he didn't care to place, and only in loose shorts. This early in the morning, he didn't care and if they didn't stop knocking, blood might spill.

"What!?" He swung open the door, eyes barely open but hard, and glared at their visitor. "Oh, it's just you," Kasamatsu yawned, rubbing at his eyes and lessening his glare slightly. The demon on his doorstep didn't look impressed. He'd been warned this might happen, and so it came to be. "Kagami's out visiting. Be back in a week. Good day." And he promptly closed the door in the demon's face. He took barely a step away before the door was jerked open, dark fingers holding tight to the frame.

"What do you mean he's gone?" Kasamatsu frowned at him, then gave up, yawning again as he waved a hand, turning his back to move towards the kitchen. If he had to be awake at this hour, then he was making coffee. Aomine stayed at his door, watching with him narrowed eyes. "Where did he go?"

"Out, away," the raven managed around another yawn, shaking himself and forcing his eyes open wide before they drooped again. "Be back in a week. Maybe three."

"You don't know? Well aren't you useless." Because it was early, Kasamatsu let it slide. Otherwise, Kagami's courter would be halfway down the street with a good headache forming. "Who's he visiting? Where?"

"I don't like your attitude, so I'm not telling you," the raven declared loftily, setting the kettle on the stove and striking a match it light it up. The floor boards creaked and he shot bright silver-blue eyes to the door. "Step another foot in my house, and I'll make sure he never comes back." Aomine glared from where he had stepped across the entrance, watching him for a long moment before he stepped back outside, leaning against the frame. He was obviously upset, his form tense and jaw clenched tight, but Kasamatsu didn't care. "He's out visiting a friend, might stop and see another one, depends on how things go. He'll either leave in a week, or be back later in the month," he said, watching from the corner of his eye as the demon scowled. "I'd say he needs a nice break, so that's all you're getting from me."

"You really think I just can't get you—" The demon was sent sprawling across his floor and Kasamatsu was the one now completely unimpressed, expression falling further as the blond pranced into his kitchen, a wide smile on his lips and eyes only slightly deranged.

"Senpai! Good morning! I hope Aominecchi wasn't causing any problems?" Golden eyes shot to the blue haired man sitting up, muttering under his breath. "Let's have breakfast together!"

"No. Get out of my house."

"Gah! So cruel! Senpai! It's just a simple breakfast!" the blond wheedled, inching closer, hands clasped together to pair with his whining. "Come on! Aren't you lonely now that Kagamicchi's left?"

"I was enjoying the quiet, now that you reminded me. So leave and let me enjoy it." He turned back to look at the kettle, a steady trickle of steam leaving the spout. He opened a cupboard, looking for the tin container holding his beloved coffee, already sectioned off in packets and tied with twine. It was a hassle to portion out the powder, but it was better than having to strain it. Easier clean up too. "Didn't you hear me? Close the door behind you!" He made shooing motions towards the blond, who pouted. He turned back to the cupboard. "Tch, Kagami and his fucking height…" And there was his tin, up high. Of-course. Because the redhead was an unnaturally early riser, he would kindly make the coffee in the morning and now that the giant wasn't here, his coffee was just out of reach.

"This, Senpai?" A hand brushed against his bare back, pale fingers reaching up to pull the tin down, resting it gently in his waiting hands. Kasamatsu stared down at it for a long moment, lips tugging into a frown. "Senpai?"

"Fine, you can have breakfast with me," he ground out, popping open the tin and immediately taking in a deep breath of the coffee sachets. "How do you like your coffee? Oi, Aomine, get off my floor and sit like a civilized person!" Aomine was already perched in a chair, a smug smirk on his lips. Kasamatsu's brow twitched, his hold on the tin tightening. "Ohh? Or did you want to go somewhere else, since Taiga's not here?" Blue eyes flashed and Kasamatsu let his petty side grin back at him. "You honestly think you're the only one close enough to use first names? Please."

"Say, Senpai." He belatedly realized Kise's hand hadn't left his back. He jerked upright, eyes shifting to watch the blond. Kise had a thoughtful look on his face, but his pupils were oddly slit. "You're pretty close with Kagamicchi then, aren't you?" Kasamstu pulled away, setting his tin aside to gather mugs.

"No more than anyone else."

"But the two of you live here together." Kasamatsu shot him a sharp look, but Kise's smile was still pleasant.

"That's different," he muttered. Kise tilted his head, the picture of curiosity. "He's my apprentice, where else would he go?"

"Ah. Is that all?" And there it was again, that predatory gleam in his eyes. Kasamatsu didn't like it. It felt too much like he was being judged, appraised—for what, he didn't know and didn't care to find out.

"Yes, that's all. Now if you don't sit down, I'm kicking you out." The blond sat, a smile on his lips, looking too pleased and content with life this early in the morning. "Hassle, the both of you," Kasamatsu hissed, plopping the coffee sachets in mugs and then pouring water over them, bringing them over to the table and setting them in-front of the demons he somehow invited in for breakfast.

Or, well, who invited themselves.

"We're having rice and miso soup. Be happy, or leave."

"I'm just happy eating with you, Senpai!" Kise chirped and Kasamatsu took in a deep breath, wishing, not for the first time, that he knew what the blond wanted so he could get rid of him. If he was expecting breakfast tomorrow morning, Kasamatsu would make sure not to open the door, no matter how loud he whined.

* * *

When the door closed behind them, they still heard Kasamatsu grumbling, going about the rest of his morning. They stood there for a moment in the quiet, then looked at each other. Kise's true appearance popped out, teeth bared in a sharp smile. Aomine clicked his tongue. "What, upset I got to eat with your precious Senpai too?"

"If you ruin this, I'll make you wish you'd never met your precious Taiga," Kise promised, eyes wide with his threat. Aomine's darkened, blue bleeding to red.

"Ohhh? You? Threatening me? You know that's not a good idea, Kise."

"Then, I'd just take Taiga." Aomine's smile disappeared at the blond's words, but the wildness in the kitsune's eyes told him he was serious. "I bet I'd have fun breaking him." Clawed fingers raised to tap at his chin, a smile playing on vicious lips. "Are we clear then, Daiki? I want Yukio, and you want Taiga. Get in my way, and I'll ruin yours."

"You touch him and all bets are off, Kise," Aomine growled.

There'd been instances, in the past, where they were interested in the same person—human, demon, what have you—but it ended with either one or the other. No hard feelings in either case, but sometimes there'd been a deliberate attempt simply because the other wanted them (usually, that was Kise's doing). But Kise had never seen Aomine actually want someone like he wanted the redhead and if he had nothing better to do, he might make an attempt. But in this case, anything done to Kagami, or anything Aomine perceived as a threat, would result in something very unpleasant and Kise couldn't have that. But there was also the added bonus that if anything happened to Yukio, Kagami would be angry, so Kise had some added reassurance that Aomine wouldn't do anything drastic.

"Easy enough, Aominecchi. I don't want Kagamicchi." With another smile, he disappeared in a swirl of golden light. Aomine clicked his tongue, watching in disinterest as the golden flakes fluttered down, then turned on his heel, stalking towards the house Kagami had been helping at two days earlier. The girl—Miki? Maya? Something like that—seemed to know what was going on and he bet she would be more than happy to help him out.

* * *

Akashi, as was his duty, took back his home. There hadn't been any resistance and at-least that made it easier for him. The downside about it all was that it'd been abandoned; how long ago, he didn't know. He'd only been gone fifty years, and they made such a mess of his home.

No matter. Nothing he couldn't fix.

The one redeeming quality of what the humans had done was that the compound he once maintained was fortified in his absence: the walls higher and thicker, doors that now locked into place. Not exactly necessary for him, but a nice feature nevertheless. And the homes he had presided over, the town that had been right outside his walls was gone, given way to forests.

In short, he was now isolated, the closest human inhabitance some miles away, to the west. Small, nothing he would concern himself with. A village, if even barely. Maybe eighty people.

The only thing he couldn't stand was the absolutely disgusting smell of divine. A temple they may have made a demon's home, but a temple it would never be again. If he knew who'd done such a thing, he'd take great enjoyment in their dismemberment, but he let that wish leave him—no doubt they were dead and it was such a pity.

So, imagine his surprise when he was awoken early in the morning a few days after his return by movement in the front hall—after a tour, he discovered it was one of the few remaining parts of his home.

"Good morning, I'm so sorry about all this mess, but don't worry. I've come to fix everything. I'm sure it's been a long time since anyone's given any care to you, but I'll be mindful in my cleaning. Please forgive my intrusion, but I'll be staying here from now on and I'll be sure you're in respectable shape in no time."

Akashi wondered, briefly, why a human would be stupid enough to enter a demon's home, but then he saw the priests' robes from where he stood on the second floor balcony and a smile curled on his lips.

A priest had come to reclaim the temple—but their biggest mistakes was sending someone with absolutely no divine in them. In short, he was stupid, naïve, and utterly defenseless. But killing him so soon would bring him no joy, and at-least if he let the man live, he wouldn't have to clean himself.

So, for now, the human was given a stay of execution.

Akashi was going to enjoy this immensely.

* * *

For all intents and purposes, Himuro adopted a demon. The giant was laid-back, ate huge amounts, took frequent naps, and had a tendency to thrown temper tantrums—essentially, a child. Now, if he'd been told years ago that one of his duties were to be a babysitter to an oni, he would have wondered how ill the person was to suggest such a thing. But, as it was, here he was. A babysitter.

He thought the village would be more alarmed, but after the first few days with no attack, they claimed Himuro was just that great of a priest, to have such control over the demon. He hated to tell them it had nothing to do with him at all, and rather Murasakibara chose to stay because of his cooking, but he didn't want to incite a panic, so he merely smiled and held his tongue. Of-course, Murasakibara took exception to those thoughts, she he made cake to appease the giant. It worked well.

So, all things considered, he felt everything was going alright. He was still worried about his cute little brother and he was tempted to leave for Oura again, now that everything was resolved, but Taiga was also an adult and he could handle himself.

For now, he decided, he'd let things go as they will for a little longer, but if Taiga called again, he'd deal with it properly this time.

* * *

When Midorima had been a young man, just a few years out of school and taken up the cloth in a town on his own, he'd met a demon. Or rather, a demon found him.

It was nothing spectacular, no mysterious deaths or disappearances, nothing strange going on, just a man appeared one day and showed an interest in him, insisting they be friends. It wouldn't be for another few months that he would have any inkling of the man's true identity, but by then it was already too late.

Midorima Shintaro at the age of twenty-one committed a sin against all his teachings and God: he fell in love with a man.

As human, it would be understandable for him to fall in love. He was young, it was nearly expected. It wouldn't even be that odd if he fell in love with another man, such things happened. But as a priest, as a Catholic, such a thing was not permitted. If it had been a woman, there might have been talk of him leaving the priesthood, to lead a life under the guiding eye of God and raise a family.

So despite his feelings, he continued as if they didn't exist. It was hard, but he had to.

And later, when he learned the true nature of his friend, he thought those feelings would disappear and be replaced with disgust. They didn't and he was alarmed to know they only grew. Being a rational and learned man, he thought through it calmly.

He was very much in love and when the demon had told him, showed him, trusted him, despite knowing that Midorima couldn't approve but nevertheless trusted him, something even warmer fluttered in his chest.

So he thought about it. He thought about it for months, trying figure out if it would all be worth it—turning his back on his religion and his teachings, for his love of a man.

Luckily, the choice was made for him before he did anything rash, like leave the priesthood.

The demon came one night, clothed in darkness and set fire to his church, trapping him inside and robbing him of his sight. When he returned, he tried in vain to convince Midorima that hadn't been his intention, but the damage was done.

To protect himself and his broken heart, Midorima with all his power cast the demon away, his circle growing so large, so powerful, that he would later be told he even cast out demons from the surrounding provinces. He was revered for that instance and for the next twenty years, Shinto priests would come to him to learn, touting him as a Master despite being Catholic. He turned them all away, directing them to the appropriate temple, as was proper.

He just didn't want the reminder of everything he had lost in the flames and why it had been necessary to cast the circle in the first place. He hadn't meant to make it so large, so powerful, but he'd just been so hurt.

Sometimes he dreamed, of silvery blue eyes and of wings, of laughter and a warmth, of Shin-chan, but those dreams were few and far between. As he aged, they came less and less and eventually, it no longer hurt so much to think of the demon who brought such tragedy to his life.

Midorima thought he'd live out his life, alone, and in his church. Of-course demons had to come and ruin it and bring back all those memories he tried hard to forgot.

And when, for the first time in years, he dreamt of wings, he awoke with a start at the darkness all around him and whispering laughter twirling itself in his home, Midorima Shintaro, age seventy-one, cried at the remembrance of everything he lost in the flames.

Notes:

Well. This took awhile. Whoops~  
I do apologize for the shortness, but hooray for school being back in session...  
I checked in with most everyone here and next chapter we're gonna meet Kuroko and see what he's up to, see some more of Kise and Kasamatsu, and you'll get to see Aomine being his usual charming self~  
I do have plans for Akashi and Furihata, but I'm not sure if I'll get to them next chapter, but here's hoping~!  
Really, I'm super sorry about this disappearance, but please understand I'm in my last year so classes suck.

Chapter 8

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The telephone ringing halfway through their dinner sent Tetsuya rising from his seat, stepping across his home quietly to answer it. Kagami shoved another spoonful into his mouth, watching curiously. "Hello, Kuroko speaking." His blue haired best friend shifted his weight, free arm crossing across his chest. "I'm not sure I follow." Kagami blinked, spoon raised as he watched. "I see. That sounds… concerning. Should I be concerned? Very well. Yes, I'll do that. Yes, thank you. Have a nice evening. Goodbye."

"Whossat?"

Tetsuya gave him an unamused look before sighing gently. "Kasamatsu-san called to suggest you extend your visit and call up Furihata-kun in the effort to visit. He realizes it's been some time since you've visited, and wishes you to make the best of it," the school teacher responded quietly.

"Senpai's giving me the go-ahead? Well! Let's go visit Kou then, Tetsuya!" Kagami grinned widely and Tetsuya's own grew slightly.

"I agree, Kagami-kun."

He'd keep it from Kagami that demons were apparently hanging around his house and Kasamtsu wanted to teach them a lesson. He thought it inadvisable to provoke demons, but their senior seemed to know what he was doing and Father Midorima resided in town, so Kuroko had no doubts Kasamatsu would be fine.

(Kasamatsu did sound rather stressed over the telephone though…)

He looked forward to visiting Furihata. It's been quite some time since they've seen him, after-all, and it would be nice to catch up.

* * *

Kasamatsu was a carpenter. A decent, common carpenter. He helped build houses and fences, repair houses and fences, upkeep on some indoor things, like walls and doorframes, created tables and chairs when he had free time, and spent his evenings visiting with his older relatives in town and Midorima-san.

What he didn't have time for was some blond airhead trying to get him into bed. The bastard was as cocky as he was pretty and if he thought Kasamatsu would just accept he had another thing coming. The raven would give him credit for not giving up, but it was getting old. He obviously wasn't interested and there were plenty of women in town watching him with dark eyes, so the blond should just shove off and go to them.

What he also didn't have time for was sulking demons (who were apparently love-sick over his roommate) being a bother by hanging around and whining. It only seemed to provoke the blond and Kasamatsu was sick of dealing with both of them.

So did he call Kuroko to keep Kagami out of town for a while longer?

Yes.

Why? Because it brought him great joy so that when he saw Aomine the next day, he grinned and told him Kagami wouldn't be back til next month. Aomine was pissed, obviously, and Kasamatsu didn't even mind when the blue haired man pulled him up by his shirt, glaring and hissing at him. Kise came to his rescue pretty quick, and he was in such a good mood he even left the door open when the blond trailed him home, inviting him in for dinner.

By Kise's excitement, it was as if he'd just gotten his wildest wish granted.

He still wouldn't sleep with him, no, he had too much pride for that, but he was finding Kise's company was appreciated now that Kagami was gone.

So of-course his cousin would mention it to Midorima-san, who promptly invited himself over for dinner. Kasamatsu was already too used to the old man's ways, but if he wasn't mistaken, it looked like the old priest took much delight in attending—solely for the purpose of making Kise suffer.

So, did he enjoy Kagami being gone? Not really, he missed his friend and his cooking. But was he making it work? You bet he was. He enjoyed taunting Aomine(within reason), he was starting to see Kise as a friend, and he got to see the blond harassed by Midorima. Not exactly what he was expecting, but well, he always been good at adapting.

"Tell me, Yukio, how is the Shinto priest?" Was dinner conversation with Midorima any easier? Absolutely not.

"Tatsuya?" Kasamatsu noted Kise seemed interested. "Fine, last I heard. He called after Kagami left, said he should make the trip up to see him this time around."

"That would make the most logical sense. Kagami has the freedom, while Himuro is limited. Did you hear what happened that he had to leave so quickly?"

"I never got the full story. Something about containing a demon? But it wasn't anything serious. Kagami said he had a roommate now at the shrine," Kasamatsu shrugged, returning to his dinner. Midorima gave a single nod, returning to his own meal quietly. Kise, for his part, was still watching him. "Yes?"

"How'd they meet? Kagamicchi and the priest?"

"What?"

Kise smiled, in a 'oh, you're cute so I won't say anything' sort of way that made him want to kick him. "Kagamicchi and Tatsuya—how'd they meet?"

"I imagine it's how most brothers meet—when the younger was born," Kasamatsu spoke slowly, watching the blond and wondering if there really was anything to that rumor he'd heard about demons being inbred. "In this case, when Kagami was born." The blond stared at him for a long while, the smile gone to be replaced with something so blank Kasamatsu wondered if he really was stupid. "You did know they were brothers, didn't you?" he questioned.

"Brothers. Kagamicchi and the priest. They don't have the same last name." Apparently, he didn't.

"Do… do I have to explain to you how affairs work?" Kasamatsu asked, hesitant. It wasn't a conversation he wanted to have, but if Kise didn't know, well, someone had to explain it to him, didn't they?

The blond stared at him for a moment longer before a sharp look overcame him, eyes glowing and pupils narrowed to thin black lines, smile curved and filled with sharp teeth. "Senpai, if you really wanna annoy Aominecchi, don't tell him they're brothers."

Kasamatsu was starting to like the blond demon more and more.

* * *

Akashi had intended on letting the mousy man do as he wanted, without his interference. But when a telephone rang in the front hall a week into his visit, he listened in.

"V-visit? Well, I don't know about that… I'm still cleaning and I don't have much to cook with… Ah, well, if you want—t-there's one a few miles away? Maybe half a day's walk? Eh? Really? Well, I won't say no if you're that insistent and Kuroko-kun's coming! Oh, wait, Tai, have you heard from your father? N-no, it's just, your cousin—well, the wedding's in a few months and I figured… Ah, well, I was, but, if you're not…Masanori can go and no one would mind if I wasn't—well, no, not especially, but… Well, he's family, isn't he? No, no I understand, I guess I just thought, since you've been gone so long… I see. Well, I'll be happy to have some company! It gets quite lonely here! All right! All right Tai, I'll see you in a week! Bye bye!"

Akashi watched as the man hung up then went to scoop up the broom he dropped to answer the phone. He smiled, leaning on the rail. "So you're lonely, are you?" The man shrieked, the broom flying from his hands again. "Well, I suppose I've been a terrible host to you these last few days. Allow me to rectify that mistake." The priest whirled around, looking up with wide brown eyes. Akashi straightened up, hands sliding into the sleeves of his kimono, smile widening as he got the man's attention. No doubt the skittish priest instantly knew what the curved horns peeking through his hair meant. "Welcome to my home. I am Akashi Seijuurou." He bowed smoothly, eyes closing briefly. There was a thud and when he looked down, the man was on the floor, hat askew and brown hair mused and spiky. "My. It's been some time since I've gotten that reaction."

He'd have to break the human of that habit if he wanted proper company.

An hour later, the man blinked his eyes open slowly, taking in a long breath before he stretched lightly, sitting up to rub at his eyes.

"Have you awaken then?"

He blinked at the voice, brows furrowing as he turned towards the doorway of his room. A redhead leaned against the frame, kimono elegant—too elegant and formal for such an abandoned place. He blinked again, taking in the stranger's features before the horns curling through cherry red hair registered. His jaw inched open, and the demon's lips quirked into a smile.

"I'm glad to see no damage was done. Allow me to introduce myself once again," the man spoke, straightening up and stepping into the room, sweeping into a bow. "I am Akashi Seijuurou, and I welcome you to my home." Akashi straightened up, teeth glittering in a smile maent to put the priest at ease. Said priest squeaked, eyes going wide and suspiciously glassy. "Oh, please calm yourself. I wish you no harm or ill will." The brunet nodded slowly, eyes still comically wide. "Nor will I fault you for entering my home without permission." The demon's eyes flashed in the low light and the priest made a disturbingly meek sound that had Akashi's smile widening.

"I-I didn't—I didn't know anyone—lived here," the priest whispered, sounding absolutely terrified.

"Yes, well, I've been away for some time, I wouldn't expect anyone to realize. Shall I be preparing for more company, Guji?" The brunet keened again, curling up on the bed and turning his back to Akashi, rocking slowly, hands covering his head as he muttered to himself. Akashi was left standing where he was, staring and blinking slowly, before he made the executive decision that he was likely scaring the man and the priest deserved a good cup of tea.

He was in luck. Akashi had just brought his good china and favorite tea.

* * *

"Oh?" Murasakibara rolled his head, munching idly on the biscuits as he watched the pretty priest answer the telephone. "Forgive me, Uncle, I didn't know. No, I haven't spoken to Taiga in some time." Himuro's smile dropped, eyes narrowing as he stared at the wall. "Well, that was about a month ago, and I stayed for barely a day before I had to return home." His voice was still pleasant, a mask to hide what his face showed. "And how did you come to know about that, Uncle? Ah. I see. No no, just merely curious, seeing as I'm so far away."

Murasakibara leaned back upright, gazing out at the garden before him, seated on the wood deck to enjoy the breeze. The mountain towered beyond the small plot of land, looming over the temple.

"Uncle. Forgive me if I'm being too direct, but—why did you call?" Murasakibara tilted his head again, seeing the priest straighten up sharply, free hand curled into a fist. "Forgive my rudeness then, Father, but I merely wondered why you would call me to inquire into Taiga's actions when you know I hold no sway over him, nor can I tell him what to do. He is grown and has the freedom to do as he wills." Murasakibara turned then, seated and facing the priest, shoulders hunched as he watched. Himuro's visible eye closed, body relaxing. "Father, I hate arguing with you, but I truly didn't know. I'm not kept up-to-date with the family. The next time I talk to Taiga, I'll mention it to him. If you'd like him to attend, perhaps see about allowing him to bring someone with—no, a friend. His senpai maybe. He's comfortable around Kasamatsu-san, and he'd likely be more agreeable if you allowed it." Himuro tilted his head back, eye still closed. "I understand, Uncle. I wish you a pleasant evening." The telephone was returned to its perch and the priest opened his eye, seeing the demon staring back at him. His lips quirked in a smile.

"Muro-chin doesn't look happy."

"Ah, well, apparently I'm still supposed to be babysitting my grown-up little brother. Uncle blames me for anything he doesn't like, but counts on me to keep Taiga in check." The demon peered up at him, eyes narrowing, before he hummed, turning back around to snack on the biscuits once again. "Last I heard, he wasn't even home, so here's hoping Yukio can handle Uncle gracefully. I'd hate for him to throw a fit and we have a repeat of what happened three years ago," Himuro mused, tapping at his chin.

"What happened three years ago?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing too drastic. Just a Lord's son deciding to become a carpenter."

Murasakiabara tilted his head back, a biscuit hanging from him mouth to stare at his roommate for a long moment. Himuro smiled back and the demon sighed through his teeth.

* * *

Kise knocked twice, then eased open the door. "Senpai? Senpai are you home?" It didn't stop him from entering, but he at-least had the decency to call out.

"Kise?" The blond straightened at the call of his name with no malice attached. "Come help me." Kise held in his squeal, eyes glittering as he licked his lips, stepping lightly through the house.

"Sure thing, Senpai," he called back, moving towards the partially open bedroom door. He nudged it open, taking in his latest toy, and promptly losing his breath.

He knew Kasamatsu preferred yukatas and kimonos—more traditional than Kagami—but also understood the necessity of trousers. So to see him in something so fine and beautiful, something not meant to be worn every day. Navy blue, dark, with golden waves curled around the sides and rising up from the hem, lighter blue mixed in. the sleeves were dusted with white waves from the hems, fading to a lighter blue, then darkened to navy. The obi was black with a white band in the center, meant to tie it back, currently held in Kasamatsu's hand. A lighter blue haori with thin white lines was laid evenly on the bed, one that would reach down to Kasamatsu's knees.

"Help me with the obi, would you? I haven't worn this in years, just wanna make sure everything still fits," Kasamatsu stood in the middle of his room, watching him silently, raising it up.

"Right, of-course, sure," Kise stepped forward, taking it and stepping behind the object of his desires. Trailing his fingers across his stomach as he pulled the obi around, he felt Kasamatsu stiffen. He leaned down, inches away from his neck. "What's the occasion?" he murmured, tugging it into place and making sure it was straight.

"Wedding." Kise pulled too tight and Kasamatsu huffed. "Not that tight!"

"Sorry! A wedding huh?"

"Not mine, genius." Kise's hold loosened and he hoped his relieved sigh wasn't too noticeable. He brought the ends together, tucking and pulling with deft fingers, adjusting it in the small of Kasamatsu's back before he let dawdling fingers rise. "Kagami's cousin. Apparently if I go, Kagami's less likely to bolt. And his father mentioned he'd leave Kagami alone for a while."

"Don't they get along?" Kasamatsu snorted and Kise took that as a no. With the obi tight, the raven stepped away to pull on the haori and adjusting how it rested on his shoulders. Kise thought he looked remarkably distinguished.

"Not really. Never got the whole story, but Kagami wanted to be a carpenter and his father had other ideas. And since their father is so distant towards Tatsuya, Kagami didn't really see a point in staying. Tatsuya called, asked me to go along with it and then their father called just a bit ago. Went over to Mother's and she was keeping this for me, figured it'd be good enough for the wedding." Kasamatsu raised his arms, seeing how the sleeves rested, before dropping his arms and turning towards the blond. "So, do you think this is acceptable for a Lord's nephew's wedding?"

Kise smiled, flashing a thumb's up. "Very nice, Senpai! You look very proper!"

"Well, I don't know about that," Kasamatsu looked away, a smile tugging at his lips and Kise straightened up. "I'm betting I'll still look out of place, even in my best. I've seen Kagami's and I don't hold a candle—but thanks, Kise," Kasamatsu raised his head, giving a smile.

Kise stared, then beamed back. "Sure thing, Senpai! For what it's worth, I do think you really look nice," he insisted. His smile shifted, pupils slitting. "And if you need help getting out of it, I'd be more than happy to help—"

"I'm not sleeping with you! Damn demon, get out of my house!" Kasamatsu's eye twitched, fist raised threateningly, and Kise left, laughter floating behind him.

From their realm, Momoi watched the bright smile on the blond's lips, curling up on her couch and holding her legs tight to her chest, chin on her knees. Her smile shifted to a sigh as Kise stepped out, the smile gone to be replaced with a look she hadn't seen in some time, a hand rising to cover his eyes as he breathed out heavily. "Momoicchi," he whispered. She brought the small orb closer.

"I wondered if you would notice, Ki-chan," she greeted brightly. "Do you need something?"

"I want him." Momoi snickered at how distraught he sounded. "It's his wedding attire, Momoicchi!"

"Then maybe you should propose, hmm?" She suggested, head tilted as she smiled. "Ahh, I'm jealous! You all are having such fun! Even Mukkun is up in the mountains!"

"I can't imagine you'd want to play with anyone here, Momoicchi," Kise responded blithely, hand dropping to his side as his illusion faded away.

Her eyes sharpened, smile darkening. "Ah, is that what you're doing with Kasamatsu-san? Playing? You're being awfully respectful of him, if that's the case. You're working awfully hard, for just playing."

Kise's eyes sharpened and she saw how his pupils slit. "Watch it."

"I think you're respecting him. Abiding by his wishes."

Kise rolled his eyes. "I'm bored when they give in too quickly. I want Senpai to come to me, need me. Sure it's taking a while, but it'll be fun." Sharp canines flashed in her small orb and she narrowed her eyes.

"You're being stupid, Ki-chan."

"No, Satsuki. I'm not the one looking for something impossible." She jerked away, both from his words and the cold look in his eyes. She swept her fingers to the side and the orb shattered, only showing a vague look of surprise on the blond's face before she forcibly broke the connection. Her bottom lip wobbled before she steadied herself, rising from her couch and striding out of her room, a cloak appearing as she went.

She pulled open her door, striding out into the hallway of the manor, wrapping herself up tightly in her coat as she went, passing lesser demons who bowed their heads to her. "I'll be leaving. Should Daiki return, tell him not to bother. I'll be back on my own terms," she commanded sharply.

"As you bid, Lady Aomine." She huffed and the demoness flinched. "M-momoi. Lady Momoi, my apologies." Momoi waved a hand and the demoness slunk away. Striding down the front hall, she floated down the steps before throwing open the doors and stepping into a pink tinged portal, disappearing into darkness.

Notes:

Ah. Been awhile. I feel like that's all that I ever say... Mm, well, things are getting fun, hm?

Chapter 9

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Momoi Satsuki was forty-seven before she found out who her father was. It wasn't a surprise, really, but finding out who he was was, well, unexpected. She knew her mother was a beautiful woman, still stunning even to this day, but him? Really?

Even before knowing he was in actuality her father, she'd always thought him selfish, flighty, arrogant, and conceited, never involved enough in his own affairs, much less worrying about his children. He looked for thrills, for fun, for lust.

His children numbered in double digits, but few saw him in any parental capacity. Which again spoke of how it'd been held back from her for so long and only let slip when her mother had been in a reminiscing mood after a little too much wine.

She did what anyone in her position would do: she ignored it.

Three months later, she happened to meet her half-brother (one of many) and after he tried propositioning her and she broke his nose while screaming about familial bonds, she was invited to her father's estate and welcomed into his family.

She and her mother were not amused.

Obviously, her mother wasn't pleased to re-meet the devil who promised her love and happiness, a home, and then had him leave her the next time a woman caught his eye. Her father insisted on no hard feelings, that it was his nature, didn't she remember? ("Oh, I remember all right. Why don't you think I never said I bore a daughter to you? Really, Hideki, did you think I ever wanted her to know her father wandered?" "Arisu, please, it's in the past." "The past has a way of coming back to the future, don't you agree?")

Satsuki was indifferent. She had no fluttery feelings for her father and didn't care to "get to know him" as he wanted. She knew the stories, now knew her history and her mother's, and she knew enough about him and his relationships with his children to know this was just something to pass the time for him.

She was a passing interest, something to relieve his boredom while doing the dual job of stroking his ego about being a doting parent. Some of his children lived in his estate and he seemed to have decent relationships with them, she would give him that, but she understood a lot was hidden underneath false exteriors. She wondered what he wanted from her. Did he have a renewed interest in her mother? Did he want a strategic marriage?

"What do you want from me?" She'd never been one to stall and she'd rather get the information now rather than stand around making more small-talk.

Her father had spread his arms wide, the picture of a doting father deeply hurt by his child's words. "Can I not get to know my own daughter? I regret not knowing you for this long, after all these—fifty? sixty?—years." His eyes were cold however and she stared back at him with her mother's pink eyes, watching him silently, before she looked around the parlor they were seated in. And she noticed something.

"Your only daughter, am I correct?" Her mother had blinked, looking around on her own to see the several half-brothers who'd been called in for this family reunion. And only her half-brothers. Her father was silent and Satsuki wondered what he thought he could get her to do. "What were your intentions? Did you wish to auction me off, the only daughter of the prestigious Aomine family? A bargaining chip to better yourself? Or were you intending on keeping the bloodline in the family?" It wouldn't be unheard of if that was one of his passing thoughts. He had several brothers who bore their own share of sons.

"Aren't you clever?" One of her brothers muttered. She smiled brightly, demeanor shifting, but eyes bleeding red.

"I get it from my mother." Her elder brother clicked his tongue, but she turned to the low chuckle that came from the doorway to the parlor. A teenager near the spitting image of their father, save the boy's dark skin, grinned back at her.

"I like you. Satsuki, was it? Daiki," was his introduction. Satsuki raised a brow, smile playing on her lips while she watched him stride in. From the corners of her eyes, she saw their brothers shifting, restless at Daiki's appearance. "Old man, don't be stupid. She's probably the smartest you've got, you can't go making her angry. Or else she'll really make you regret it. Isn't that right, Auntie?" Satsuki's mother had, at that point, smiled with sharp teeth, a darkness in her eyes.

"You've got a good head on your shoulders yourself, Daiki. I've always thought my little Satsuki needed a brother, why don't you do so? Hideki, come near my daughter again and I'll rip your head off." She'd left at that point, Satsuki following behind her, Daiki leaning lazily against the wall, watching them leave.

"Father, you bedded that woman?" an awed voice whispered as they stepped out into the hall.

"A succubus not only bore you a daughter, but didn't kill you after she was done eating. I'm impressed, Father," another stated, loud and bold. Satsuki remembered wincing at the thought of how her new family viewed her own and she found herself swallowing hard.

"If you don't shut up, I'll make you."

Daiki had appeared on their doorstep two days later, a bag thrown over his shoulder and another one in hand. While she blinked at her half-brother, her mother raised a brow. "Need a place to crash. Was gettin' tired of them anyway. You gonna let me in or what?"

And that was how Satsuki and Daiki met and became siblings. They were still both so young, but they got along surprisingly well. They filled in for the others' weaknesses and while they could get into vicious screaming matches, they also would just as quickly make up. He was ten years older than her, and they were still so close in age and appearance, but she would take to mothering him. He made no complaints, so she knew he secretly enjoyed at-least having someone care for him.

She couldn't imagine their other brothers did, what with how wary they'd been when he entered. True to her threat, when the Aomine head came around, her mother made good on her attempt at taking his life and it was with Daiki's refusal to come home ("Why would I wanna do that, old man? Satsuki can't cook for shit, but Auntie can and I don't gotta see all of you every day.") that Hideki left. Not happily, but he left.

Of-course, he later gifted Daiki an estate to call his own, a sort of bargaining piece in an attempt to get into both his strongest son and only daughter's good graces. Daiki accepted the house, but refused all further invitations at family reconciliations. And with runes and wards, Satsuki made sure no one they didn't accept could get in and her mother was promptly moved in an given her own set of rooms—Daiki's orders.

They were still young, under one hundred, but they'd made some powerful friends in the Akashi heir, a son of a kistune line, and a powerful oni who'd fallen in-love with Momoi Arisu's cooking and declared his friendship with their family. Their father wouldn't give up on them, but he was easily distracted and by the time Daiki did reach one hundred, they had seven new half-brothers.

Satsuki had grown very close with their group of friends, extended family in her eyes, so she noticed when they started changing. Nothing drastic at first, but things started changing. Kise would be coming and going more frequently, new marks and bruises marring his skin when he returned. He would cheekily inform them he had a very good night and then Daiki would be off and not return for a few days, coming back looking pleased with himself. Murasakibara had always been fairly uninterested, but never deliberately cruel. Satsuki, more than once, found blood and the staff of their manor stealthily cleaning it and disposing of… things. He was bored, apparently, and she didn't like the glow of his eyes sometimes. Akashi had always been aloof and formal, but his nature was beginning to reveal itself further and he prided himself on control he couldn't rightly have. It caused problems, but nothing she couldn't smooth over with her silver tongue.

She'd made a new friend and he took to her family with an ease she hadn't expected, bringing them back. Things had calmed down and life returned to the happiness she had known.

But she should've known it wouldn't last.

Her friends turned again, disinterested, competitive, near feral at times, but her new friend, her dear friend, didn't seem affected by whatever had taken hold of them. She despaired when he left though, citing he wanted to see the human world and see what kinda fun, interesting things would be there. She didn't know his attempts at waiting out their friends' mood swings would bring them too to the human realm.

And things returned again—Satsuki, in horror, realized they were entertained. Without anything to pull their attention, their baser natures came forth and with the new experiences and things of this new world, they could be the people she'd known.

She left them for a few decades, wondering just how much of her father lived in her, if Daiki could be so much like him. When she returned, everything was ruined, but her family was back, if not scattered.

At the cost of her friend.

She grieved, despairing at the cost it took to return her friends to her. Murasakibara and Akashi came and went as they pleased form the manor, but Daiki and Kise were permanent fixtures. She couldn't look at them for the first couple years, still wondering what had changed and made everything go so wrong. Wondering, if she got close again, if they would leave her again. She waited, to see if their boredom changed them again.

But it didn't. The two would complain more, or go out seeking partners, but nothing as drastic as what had happened already in the past. She knew things couldn't go back to the way they had been, but it was a close thing, having the two around. She wondered if the loss of her friend had cut them as deeply as it did her. She wondered if they knew of how angry and hurt she had truly been, with their change.

But no matter. Fifty years locked as they were was nothing. Fifty years was barely anything. She could take their company while it lasted, content herself with the time she was given before she lost them again.

Fifty years was nothing to a demon. In fifty years, her friend would return and if her family changed again, she would cherish those decades in her heart—

While she left them for good.

* * *

"What do you mean she left?" Aomine yawned wide, eyes closing. The demon before him kept his head bowed. "Where'd she go?"

"Lady Momoi left quite suddenly just a few hours ago. She opened a portal; where to, I'm afraid she didn't share. She bid us to inform you not to worry, that she would be back on her own terms." Aomine opened his eyes, blue gazing down at the lesser being before him.

"'Her own terms'? Is that what she said?" There was a growl to his tone, and the demon ducked a little further down.

"Correct."

Aomine leaned back, head tilted to the side as he stared him down. "What was she doing? Before she left?"

"I believe she was speaking with Master Kise. A shattered orb was cleared from her room, so I am to assume their discussion did not go well." Aomine clicked his tongue and the demon slid away. With a scowl, he stomped up the grand staircase, back straight and shoulders tense.

A sharp flick of his wrist brought a small orb to life and when a surprised Kise peered at him from the other side, he snarled. "What did you say to Satsuki, you blond airhead?"

"Ah, Aominecchi, I didn't mean to upset her, really. Is she crying?"

Aomine huffed out a sharp breath, eyes narrowing. "She left, you absolute useless—" He cut himself off, lips pressed tight together as red seeped into his irises. Kise blinked up from the glass. "Whatever you did, made her leave. She's gone. So what did you say to her?"

Kise looked away, shame on his face. Aomine growled low in his throat. "She talked about Senpai, and I… She commented on how maybe I wasn't just playing. You know how she is, Aominecchi," Kise looked up at him, almost desperate. Aomine waited, strides long as he made his way to his sister's room. "About love."

Aomine stopped, hand dropping to his side as he stared down the hallway. Then the orb was up, enlarging and glowing blue, his eyes red and sclera black. He stared at the blond through the glass, Kise having the sense to flinch. "What did you say to her, Ryouta."

Kise's jaw was closed tightly, tensed and he closed his eyes, taking in a breath. "I'm not the one looking for something impossible."

The orb shattered, the hallway littered with small spears as power pulsed through the corridor, Aomine in the center of it, shoulders heaving as he breathed in deep, eyes tightly shut as darkness slithered up around him, curling around his feet and swirling. Whispers rose from the darkness, voices responding to his call. "Find her and bring her back here. I'll not have her out there on her own. By the end of the day, or I won't be happy." The shadows shot away, disappearing from his sight and he sucked down a deep breath. "If Kise comes back here," he raised his voice, hearing it echo off the walls. No doubt his staff heard him. "Kick him out."

He wasn't sure if he could handle that right now, the peppy idiot coming to apologize to him while his sister was off, away, leaving him behind again.

The last thing he wanted was to kill the blond, but if he made Satsuki leave him again, leave without a word for another thirty years, he'd make sure no one could piece him back together again. Once was enough, he couldn't have her leave like that again. When she came back home, whatever she wanted would be hers'.

Just as long as she didn't leave him behind again.


	2. Chapter 2

Gym Embarrassment Hitsugayaduckling19 Summary: From a prompt I found on Pintrest. "He thought he was alone in the hotel gym so he decided to sing 'Eye of the Tiger' at the tops of his lungs whilst exercising. He found it to entertaining he just had to meet him." Notes:

Work Text:

Kagami looked around the gym for a third time, confirming that he was indeed the only person in the somewhat small room. He's not surprised by this, really. Surely not a lot of people work out while at a hotel. Especially not when it was after one in the morning.

Geez, why am I working out at one in the morning while on vacation? Kagami shakes his head, ridding him of the thought of heading back to his room and going to bed. I'm already here, might as well make the most of it. Sighing one last time, he puts his earphones in and finally starts his work out. He's warming up with a light jog when one of his favorite songs comes on. (Not that he would ever admit that to anyone.) Kuroko would never let me live it down if he knew I actually liked this song. An idea hits him and his cheeks immediately warm up in response. He tries to ignore the thought, but the urge won't go away. Checking the mirrors again, he sighs. What the hell, it can't hurt anything. It's not like anyone is here to see me, anyways. With that last thought, he shrugs and goes for it. He starts singing right as the chorus comes on.

"It's the eye of the tiger

It's the thrill of the fight

Rising up to the challenge of our rival

And the last known survivor

Stalks his prey in the night

And he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger"

Kagami continues with his jog while singing at the top of his lungs. It felt good to let go like this. Not a lot of people knew, but Kagami absolutely loved singing. What he failed to notice, however, was that he was no longer alone in the room. Another man had joined him not too long after he started signing. The rooms new occupant was leaning against the wall, arms crossed with a small smirk on his face. It was obvious that he was enjoying the free concert. His smirk widened as the chorus came back on and Kagami started singing louder, more enthusiastically.

"It's the eye of the tiger

It's the thrill of the fight

Rising up to the challenge of our rival

And the last known survivor

Stalks his prey in the night

And he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger"

As the song faded out, Kagami slowed his jog until he was only walking. Now that he was warmed up, he planned on moving to the weights. He took out his earphones and placed his phone on his gym bag, which he placed on the floor beside him, before turning around and promptly freezing. His eyes widen in shock and his cheeks warm inembarrassment as he finally notices the other man in the room. The smirk on the other males face widens when their eyes meet.

"Oh man, you done already? That's a real shame, I was really enjoying it."

Kagami feels his face heat up even more that before and is internally grateful that he can, most likely, use the exercise as an excuse for his no doubt, beet red face. He doesn't respond to the man, he can't. He doesn't know whether to run out of the room as fast as he can, apologize, or yell at the man. Kagami being Kagami, he goes with yelling.

"What the hell man? When did you get here?"

Pushing off the wall, the man responds with, "Oh right about the time you got to the chorus the first time."

"Why didn't you say anything, you asshole?" Kagami, clearly, is not to blame for his own embarrassment. He had checked the room plenty of times and he was alone each time. By Kagami's logic, that means that it has to be the other man's fault. What kind of person watches another do something so embarrassing and not announce their presence?

"And interrupt you? I would never, "the man says in mock offence. "Like I said, I was enjoying the show. I mean, who wouldn't? An incredibly attractive man, such as yourself, acting like a complete dork while working out. I'm pretty sure my heart stopped when I first got here." The man was now standing only a few feet from Kagami, smirk still present.

Kagami was about to yell another insult at the man, but then his last two sentences registered in his mind and all words left him. This time, he could feel the blush travel all the way down his neck. He averts his gaze from the others and lets his eyes rake over the man's body instead. He was taller than Kagami, but only by an inch or so, with dark skin and blue hair. He was only wearing a pair of loose, light grey sweatpants. Kagami swallowed hard as he took in the man's top half. He was leaner than Kagami, but his muscles were nice and defined. His shoulders broad and the muscles in his arms were strained from being crossed. All in all, Kagami thought HE was the attractive one. Great, I just embarrassed myself in front of the most attractive man I'll ever meet. Great Job, Taiga.

"Are you done checking me out , or do you want me to pose for you a little?"

Kagami's head snapped up at that and his eyes narrowed. This man may have been hot, but he seemed to be pretty arrogant. However, he doesn't get a chance to tell the man that.

"I don't mind. Posing, that is. As long as it's for you, anyways." He uncrosses his arms and takes a few steps closer so his face is only a few centimeters away from Kagami's. He uses a finger to lightly snap the headband Kagami was using to keep his bangs out of his face. "My name is Aomine. Aomine Daiki. Yours?"

Kagami considers pushing him away, but decides that the look in the other's eyes is too promising to ignore. Giving a smirk of his own he responds. "Kagami. Kagami Taiga."

The other man, Aomine, is stunned for a moment, much to Kagami's confusion, before he barks out a laugh. Before Kagami can ask him why he's laughing, Aomine gets himself under control, somewhat anyways, and looks at him with amused eyes.

"Well, Tiger, you sure caught my eye."

An Embarrassed Tiger Hitsugayaduckling19 Summary: Sequel to Gym Embarrassment. Kagami keeps running into Aomine everywhere he goes. His embarrassment continues to rise with every meeting.

Chapter 1

Notes:

Chapter Text

He must have done something wrong in a past life. That's the only way something this embarrassing could have happened to him, Kagami thinks. Not only did he get caught singing along to an embarrassing song, but he just happened to be caught by one of the most attractive men he had ever seen.

In his rush to get inside his room, he almost slams the door, but he's able to stop it at the last second and gently push it closed. Embarrassment and the desire to get inside his room does not give him the right to be inconsiderate. And despite his rough exterior, Kagami Taiga is not an inconsiderate person. It's close to two in the morning and he's pretty sure that the majority of the hotels guest are sleeping.

Closing his eyes and leaning back against the door, Kagami can feel the heat returning to his cheeks as he recalls what happened just a few minutes ago.

"Are you done checking me out yet, or do you want me to pose for you a little?"

Kagami's head snapped up at that and his eyes narrowed. This man may have been hot, but he seemed pretty arrogant. However, he doesn't get a chance to tell the man that.

"I don't mind. Posing, that is. As long as it's for you, anyways." He uncrosses his arms and takes a few steps closer so his face is only a few centimeters away from Kagami's. He uses a finger to lightly snap the headband Kagami was using to keep his bangs out of his face. "My name is Aomine. Aomine Daiki. Yours?"

Kagami considers pushing him away, but decides that the look in the other's eyes is too promising to ignore. Giving a smirk of his own he responds. "Kagami. Kagami Taiga."

The other man, Aomine, is stunned for a moment, much to Kagami's confusion, before he barks out a laugh. Before Kagami can ask him why he's laughing, Aomine stops and looks at him with amused eyes.

"Well, Tiger, you sure caught my eye."

He wants to be angry at the blue-haired man, Aomine, but he can't. If he were in the same position, he would probably act the same way…..Actually, no he wouldn't have. He definitely would have laughed, though, once he was alone. But he wouldn't have tried to embarrass the other person further. That would just be cruel.

Sighing, he pushes off the door and heads towards the chair in the corner of the room, where he had thrown his bag of clothes when he first arrived at the hotel. He rummages through his bag, looking for his sleep clothes, a pair of red boxer briefs and some light grey sweat pants. After finding them, he grabs a smaller bag from the desk, which holds his toothbrush and shower things, and makes his way to the bathroom for a much needed shower.

Once he's finished with his shower, he starts up his laptop and waits for it to turn on, having decided to watch a few movies before going to bed. He doesn't know what he wants to watch yet, so he figures he'll just scroll through Netflix until something stands out. While waiting for his laptop to finish turning on, he gets up and grab the bag of junk food he had bought earlier, before checking in to the hotel. Grabbing a bag of chips and one of the drinks from within the bag, he realizes that, unless he wants a hot beverage, he's going to have to go get ice from down the hall. Wow, Taiga. Couldn't have put the drinks in the mini fridge, could you?

Letting out a deep exhale, as if the task of getting ice was the most inconvenient thing in the world, he pushes himself off the bed and grabs the ice container that came inthe room. He pauses briefly to consider whether or not he should put a shirt on before walking out of his room, but quickly decides against it. It's probably close to three in the morning, I doubt I'll run into anyone anyways. With that decided, he grabs a room key from the desk, places it in the pocket of his sweats, and opens the door.

And immediately freezes. Lips parted lightly in shock he can feel a traitorous blush makes its way across his cheeks as he stares wide eyed. Unbelievable! What are the chances? There, standing in front of the partially opened door right across from him is the same man who, about an hour or so ago, witnessed one of the most embarrassing moments of his life. This time, however, the man isn't alone. There's a pretty, pink haired woman standing next to him with her arm looped around his. She's looking up at him with wide eyes and…..is that a blush on her face? Why would she be blushing? Oh yeah, you're not wearing a shirt, you dumbass. Shifting from one foot to the other, he slides his gaze from the woman back to Aomine. When his brick-red eyes meet Aomine's navy blue ones, the ever present blush on his face deepens.

"So, we meet again, Tiger," Aomine says seductively, taking a step towards him. Slowly looking Kagami up and down, he continues, "I've got to say, as much as I loved our last encounter, I'm lovin' this one a whole lot more." He licks his lips, slowly moves his eyes up Kagami's chest, his neck, and when their eyes finally meet, he winks.

Immediately, the woman, whose eyes widen further upon realizing that her companion knows the half-naked man in front of them, slaps Aomine on the chest and exclaims, "Dai-chan!" Jumping at the impact, Aomine turns away from Kagami and glares down at his abuser.

"Oi! What the hell, Satsuki? That hurt!" As if to emphasize, he reaches a hand up and begins rubbing the abused spot.

"You should introduce me to your friend," the women, Satsuki, says. The way she's smiling up Kagami would make anyone think that she was interested in him, but the look in her eyes tells Kagami that she's not interested in him the way most women would be. Between the look in her eyes and the way she keeps shifting her gaze between the two men, Kagami's sure she's got the wrong idea. However, he can't find the words to deny whatever ideas she has. He finds it doesn't matter either way, because he wouldn't have a chance to speak, it seems. Because not long after she finishes reprimanding him, Aomine is pulling her closer by her arm and whispering something into her ear. It's obvious she doesn't like what she hears because she pulls back, her cheeks are puffed out and she's glaring up at her friend. Grabbing the front of his shirt, she pulls him down to her level and begins whispering something back to him. The two begin a heated discussion and don't even notice when Kagami takes a few steps backwards, into his room, and closes the door.

A hot drink isn't the worst thing in the world anyways.

Kagami leans back against the door (Wasn't I in this exact position not even an hour ago?) and tries to work through everything that just happened. Seriously, what are the odds that HE would be staying in the room right across from mine?Groaning, he decides that it doesn't matter and that he should just stop thinking about it. Nodding to himself in agreement, he pushes himself off the door and walks to the bed. He makes himself comfortable, grabs his drink and the bag of chips, and pulls up Netflix. He'll watch a movie, drink his hot drink, and got to bed. When he wakes up in the morning, everything embarrassing that happened in the past few hours will be forgotten and he'll never have to think about it again.

Notes: That's it, I hope you liked it! If you did, let me know! Comments and Kudos are greatly appreciated! I have no idea when the next chapter will be up, but I have already started it! (Like 150 words, but still) Thanks again for reading! My tumblr -

Chapter 2

Notes:

Chapter Text

He must have done something completely horrible in a past life. He must have. Why else would he be being tortured now?

The morning (afternoon, really, but his morning) has been going fine. He woke up, without the sound of an alarm blaring in his ear, (thank you, vacation) ordered room service for breakfast, and talked on the phone with his best-friend, Kuroko, for a while. All in all, a great start to the day

The second he opened the door Kagami knew the rest of his day wouldn't be so great. Aomine and his pink haired friend, Satsuki, were standing in front of him. They were obviously headed out, which more than likely meant that Kagami would be taking the elevator down with them. Squaring his shoulders, Kagami fought back a groan. Maybe the man wouldn't say anything about yesterday, maybe he would just let it go. Kagami sure hoped so. Kagami nods at them in greeting and then walks down the hall, towards the elevator. When he makes it to the elevator, he presses the down button and waits. He tries not to listen as the two behind him start talking.

"Alright, if I'm going with you, there needs to be rules," Aomine says in a serious voice. "Rule one, I will not go into any lingerie stores with you. There are no exceptions. None." He pauses for, what Kagami assumes, confirmation from his female partner. He must get it because a second later he's continuing, "Second, if you try on clothes, don't expect to get my opinion on them. I'm not Kise. If you want an opinion on something, text him." If Aomine had more rules, Kagami didn't get to hear them because the elevator dings, signaling its arrival.

As Kagami waits for the doors to open he hears the women say, "I know, Dai-Chan, I know. You tell me the same set of rules every time you go shopping with me." She pauses and then says, "I don't know why, though. You end up breaking your own rules. Every. Time. I don't even have to ask for your opinion, you offer it up voluntarily." Kagami laughs a bit at that, and motions towards the elevator once the doors open, allowing Satsuki to go first. She nods in thanks and pulls Aomine along with her. Aomine, with slightly pink cheeks, glares over his shoulder at Kagami for laughing at him. Kagami just gives him smirk in return as he follows them into the elevator. He tucks himself into a corner and smiles to himself. The smile vanishes when the doors close and he sees Aomine looking at him through the reflection of the doors and smirking. He suddenly wishes he could get off and just wait for the next one.

"Oi, Satsuki, let me see your phone for a second." He's still looking at Kagami as he holds out his hand for the phone.

"Why can't you use your phone?" Even though she says this, she still hands him the phone.

"I left it in the room. Kise was being extra annoying this morning. He sent me over six messages about how excited he is about the meet up. I didn't want to deal with it all day." He messes around on the phone as he says this.

"Whatever," she responds with. "What are you even doing?"

"There's this song I heard yesterday and it's been stuck in my head ever since." With that, he presses one more button on the phone and 'Eye of the Tiger' starts playing. Kagami swears his face has never heated up so fast. He can see the smirk on Aomine's face grow at his embarrassment. And to his horror, Satsuki, though she is glaring up at Aomine, has amusement in her eyes and is trying very hard not to laugh. He told her, the ass.

Satsuki, having composed herself, pats Kagami on the arm and says, "Don't look so horrified. We all do embarrassing things." When this doesn't help Kagami's embarrassment at all she adds, "Dai-Chan sings Taylor Swift while he showers. All the time." This brings a small smile onto Kagami's face. It grows when Aomine splutters a bit and glares over at his friend. Kagami lets out a loud laugh when Aomine growls, "What the hell, Satsuki?"

Ignoring her friend, Satsuki grins up at Kagami and says, "I'm Momoi Satsuki. It's nice to meet you."

Kagami, still laughing, manages to say, "Kagami Taiga, nice to meet you."

They don't get to say anything else because the elevator dings, this time signaling that they have arrive at the lobby. Momoi takes her phone back from Aomine and finally turns the song off. She steps off the elevator, her angry friend right after her. She turns to Kagami once they're all off and says, "Have a good day!" Kagami smiles and nods in return. He watched the two of them walk away and laughs as Aomine starts yelling at her. He feels a bit better about his own embarrassing moment now. He shakes his head as Aomine seems to grow increasingly angrier the longer Momoi ignores him. He checks his phone for the time and curses quietly when he notices the time. He begins to quickly exit the hotel.

The whole reason he took a week off from work was because one of his favorite chefs was going to be teaching a two-hour class in Kyoto. He originally planned on just taking the day off, because there was no way he was going to miss that, but then he decided to take the whole week off. He has the vacation days, so he figured why not. Now, if he doesn't hurry, he's going to be late and won't be allowed in. Luckily, it's only about a fifteen-minute walk from the hotel. Still, he sets a fast pace, hoping to arrive early enough to get a seat close to the front. Chef Kasamatsu has been his favorite chef for years. Kagami's dad had taken him and his best friend, Kuroko, out to a nice dinner after they graduated University. Kasamatsu was the chef working that night and Kagami was in love. It was the best meal of his life, he swears. After dinner, Kagami had looked up the chef and was surprised to find out that he was only a few years older than Kagami himself. And that he played basketball throughout high school and University. That was all Kagami needed to begin looking up to the man. After finishing culinary school and getting a job at a five-star restaurant, Kagami made it his mission to go to one of Chef Kasamatsu's classes. And now, finally, he was able to.

Finally making it, Kagami was glad to see that there was still one seat in the front open. He quickly made his way to it and hastily put on the apron that was thrown over the counter. Kagami would never tell anyone this, but when Chef Kasamatsu walked in, he had an internal, mini fangirl moment.

Kagami lets out a deep sigh as he takes off his apron. The class was fast paced, but he was able to learn from his favorite chef, so it was definitely worth it. He starts washing all the utensils he used and cleaning up his area. He was intentionally taking longer than necessary, hoping that if he were the last one in the room, he would be able to talk to Chef Kasamatsu. However, it seems he didn't need to go to the trouble because Chef Kasamatsu was making his way towards Kagami.

"Hey, you're Kagami Taiga, right," the chef asked once he was only a few feet away.

It took Kagami a moment to process the words, but once he did he managed to get out, "Y-yes, I'm Kagami Taiga. It's nice to meet you.

"Likewise. If I'm being honest, I'm surprised your taking one of my classes."

"Why is that," Kagami asks, confused.

"I've been to the restaurant you work at in Tokyo. Your food was wonderful. In fact, I've gone back multiple times, making sure you were the chef that night. All the dished of yours that I've tried have been nothing less than perfect."

Blushing, Kagami wasn't really sure what to say, but he forced something out anyways. "Thank you. That means so much coming from you." Scratching the back of his head and chuckling a bit, Kagami continues, "You've actually been my favorite chef for a few years now. So, when I heard that you were teaching a class, I just had to come. It didn't matter what we would be cooking, I just wanted the chance to learn from you."

The shorter male blushes a bit, but smiles up at Kagami. "You know, I actually teach classes in Kyoto and Tokyo quite often throughout the year. If you want, we can exchange numbers and I can let you know when and where my classes will be. If you're interested in attending another one, that is. And if you ever have any questions, I'd be more than happy to help."

Kagami can't help but open his mouth in shock. However, he quickly closes it and nods. "Yeah, I would like that. A lot, actually."

"Cool. Here's my number." Kasamatsu pauses to write his number on a piece of paper before handing it to Kagami. He then hands Kagami the pen so he too can write his number down. Once he does and hands the paper over, Kasamatsu says, "Seriously of you ever have any questions, or need any advice or tips, don't hesitate to ask."

"Thanks. I won't. The same goes to you." Kasamatsu nods before walking away, back to his place at the front of the room and packing up his stuff.

Once Kagami is done cleaning, he gives a wave to Kasamatsu, which is returned, and leaves the room. Immediately, he pulls out his phone and sends a message to Kuroko, telling him about everything that just happened. He doesn't wait for a response, figuring Kuroko was busy with work. He decides to stop by the basketball court near the hotel before calling it a day. He doesn't want to play, really. He just likes the atmosphere of a basketball court.

Fifteen-minutes later and Kagami's at the court. Only, he's not alone. He's surprised to see Aomine and Momoi there as well. Aomine is on the court playing and Momoi is sitting on the ground nearby, alternating between watching Aomine play and looking at her phone. When she looks up next and notices Kagami, she smiles and waves before patting the ground next to her, indicating for him to sit by her. After hesitating for just a moment, he walks over and plops down in the offered spot.

"How was your day," she asks kindly.

"It was good. What about yours?"

Smiling widely, she says, "It was great! I found a lot of great things at the mall!" She finishes what she was doing on her phone before putting away and then looks back up at Kagami. "And Dai-Chan broke his own rules after only twenty minutes." Kagami laughs along with her, turning his head to watch said man make an impossible shot. Kagami thinks the man must have gotten lucky, because surely a shot like that isn't possible. However, when the man pulls off the same shot a dozen more times, Kagami can't help but let out a whispered "Amazing".

Momoi puts a hand over her mouth, trying to smother her laugher. Kagami realizes that she must have heard him and that he's probably wearing an awed expression. He quickly looks away before asking, "Has he always been that good?"

"Yeah, pretty much," was the immediate response.

"He's incredible." Seriously, Kagami? I think she gets it.

Momoi just laughs again and says, "He really is. I've never met anyone who loves basketball as much as Dai-Chan."

"From what little I've seen, I bet he could go pro."

For some reason, that Kagami can't understand, that comment seems to upset Momoi. Before he can ask why, however, a ball is smashing into the side of his face. He hears Momoi yell an angry "Dai-Chan" as he picks himself up off the ground.

Glaring up at the man he growls out, "What the hell was that for, you bastard?"

"My bad, Tiger. I thought you were some weirdo bothering Satsuki." He looks so serious and honest that Kagami can't help but forgive him.

"Whatever, man. I guess I can't blame you for that. Not really, anyways." Kagami's pretty sure he can blame him, though. He's pretty sure there are other ways of protecting a friend, but Kagami is also pretty sure that he would have done the same thing if he were Aomine, so he'll let it go. Changing the subject, he says, "I heard that you broke your own mall rules after only twenty minutes."

Groaning, Aomine throws himself down in front of them and says, "Satsuki! Why do you insist on embarrassing me? What did I do to deserve this?"

Giggling, Momoi respond happily with, "Dai-Chan, I'm your best-friend. You don't have to do anything! It's my job to embarrass you!"

"You sound a lot like my best-friend. That bastard does everything in his power to embarrass me," Kagami says with a laugh.

Grunting, Aomine says, "I can't embarrass Satsuki. She'd kill me."

"No, Dai-Chan, you can't embarrass me because I don't do embarrassing things."

"Hey! Earlier you told me that we all do embarrassing stuff sometimes," Kagami exclaims, indignant.

"I did, yes. But that was only to make you feel better," Momoi says with a straight face. Kagami can't help himself when he throws his head back and lets out a loud laugh. He has a feeling that he's going to really like Momoi. "So what did you do today," she asks.

"Oh, my favorite chef was teaching a class not far from here and I went to that. That's actually the whole reason I took a week off work."

"Oh wow! That sounds like fun! Dai-Chan and I took a week off work to come here to Kyoto, to visit some friends."

"No. We took a week off because YOU wanted to spend time shopping around Kyoto. I wanted to ride down for the day we were meeting everyone and the go back," Aomine argues.

"What do you do for a living, Kagamin," she asks, completely ignoring Aomine.

"I'm actually a chef myself."

"Ohhh, that's so cool! Do you love it?"

"I do. It's a hell of a lot better than business, which is what I studied in University. I almost wish I had gone straight to culinary school out of high school, but if I had, I wouldn't have been able to meet my best-friend." He pauses, wondering why he's being so open with people he's just met, but they don't seem to mind. "What about the two of you? What do you two do?"

"Well," Momoi starts, "Right now I'm a Sports Medicine grad student, but I work as the manager for my Universities basketball team. Dai-Chan is the coach."

"That's awesome! Have you guys been friends for long?"

"Yep! We've been friends since we were like, four or something. When Dai-Chan joined the basketball club in Junior High, I became the manager for the club because I knew I would have to keep an eye on him. Same thing with High school."

"That's cool. I moved to America with my dad before Junior High and moved back to Japan after I graduated High School. I went to University in Akita, where my childhood friend went to High School, then culinary school in Tokyo."

The three of them sat at the court and talked for a while longer before Kagami decided it was time for him to head back. "I've had a great time talking to you both, but I've got an early morning so I better be heading back now," he says a little sadly as he stands up. He was really enjoying talking with Aomine and Momoi. Sure, Aomine didn't talk much, but he laughed along and had a smile on his face the whole time.

"Alright! Maybe we can hang out sometime before we all leave," Momoi says hopefully. Aomine doesn't say anything, but Kagami can tell that he would like that, too.

"Yeah, I would really like that." With one last wave, he leaves them be and head to the hotel. He doesn't know why, but he can't stop smiling.

That is, until he hears Aomine yell, "Maybe you can sing for us, Tiger!"

Kagami doesn't turn around and acknowledge him because he's a bigger person, not because of the blush that has, one again, taken over his face.

Notes: I hope you enjoyed! Comments and Kudos are greatly appreciated! Thanks again for reading! My tumblr -

Chapter 3

Notes: Sooooo, this is super late. My class has been having assignments due every two days. But it's not just the class. This chapter had a lot of background that will come into play in the next chapter and even the next story in the series. So it was really important that I do it right. I'm still pretty insecure about my writing, so it took a while. BUT I'm actually pretty happy with it now! Also, because it was mostly background stuff, I tried hard to add in a few small AoKaga moments in. Not sure I succeeded, but I promise the next chapter is going to be all AoKaga. A few things I feel I should point out:  
1) The rating changed to T because this chapter has a part that implies sexual activity and I just want to be safe. The next chapter may have more as well, same with the next story.  
2) Tatsuya's messages- italicized. Kagami's- italicized and in bold. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

When Kagami opens the door the next day he finds himself face to face with Aomine, who is leaving his room as well.

"We've got to stop meeting like this, Tiger," Aomine says with a wink.

Kagami laughs and says, "Yeah, it's actually kind of weird how we keep leaving at the same time. I mean, what are the chances?" Aomine doesn't answer, but Kagami wasn't expecting him to.

They continue walking in silence, but as soon as the get on the elevator and the doors close Aomine says, "Hey, since we're alone, you should go ahead and sing for me again."

Kagami can feel his cheeks heat up and he tries his best to avoid looking in Aomine's direction. "Why are you always bringing that up," he asks quietly, slightly self-conscious.

Aomine stares at him for a few moments with his head tilted a little, picking up on Kagami's self-consciousness. As the elevator arrives at the lobby he turns his whole body to face Kagami and says, "I like it when you blush. It's cute." With that, he steps off the elevator, leaving Kagami behind. Kagami stands there in the elevator with a look of shock on his face. Aomine hadn't been trying to embarrass him that time, he was just being honest.

The elevator doors starting to close breaks him out of his shock and he quickly exits. He looks around the lobby, but doesn't see Aomine. He doesn't have time to think about it though, because his phone starts ringing. "Hey, Tatsuya, what's up" he says as greeting, after checking to see who was calling him.

"You're late," Tatsuya responded.

"What?! I'm not late," Kagami exclaimed. He curses loudly after looking at his watch and finding that yes, he is indeed late. "Damn, my bad, Tatsuya. I got a little, uh…distracted. The place isn't far from the hotel I'm staying at, though. It shouldn't take me long to get there."

Laughing a bit, Tatsuya says, "Don't worry about. I just wanted to make sure you didn't forget."

They end the call after Kagami promises to be there soon. Putting his phone back in his pocket, Kagami quickly makes his way to the restaurant that he and Tatsuya are meeting for lunch. He notices Tatsuya as soon as he enters the establishment. It's not hard, really, with almost every woman in the place not so subtly staring at his friend.

"How many of these women do you think would start crying if I just leaned across the table and kissed you," he asks as he sits down. Before Tatsuya can answer, the waitress comes over to ask Kagami what he wants to drink. Once she leaves Kagami nods to Tatsuya, indicating for him to say what he started to a moment ago.

Tatsuya has an innocent look on his face when he says, "I'm not sure what you're talking about, Taiga." Kagami doesn't believe him for a second. At Kagami's raised eyebrow Tatsuya laughs and says, "Alright, alright, I give. I know exactly what you're referring to, but it doesn't matter to me. I have a boyfriend and I'm more than happy with him." The waitress, who was bringing Kagami his drink, overhears that last sentence and she visibly deflates. She asks if they're both ready to order, which they respond that they are. Tatsuya doesn't bat an eye at Kagami's large order, but the waitress nearly drops her pad when she hears just how much Kagami wants. She doesn't say anything though and leaves them alone once she's done taking their orders.

"I take that things are going well with you and your boyfriend," Kagami asks, taking a sip of his drink.

"Very much so. He's actually the reason I'm in Kyoto."

"Wait, I thought you said he lived in Akita, like you?" Kagami furrows his brows in confusion.

"He does. But he has some kind of meeting with some ex-teammates of his here in Kyoto." When Kagami looks even more confused he asks, "What are you still confused about?"

"He has a meeting with some of his ex-teammates? What does that even mean?"

"Oh, that. Yeah, I don't really get it either. It seemed pretty weird to me, too," Tatsuya said with a shrug.

"Apparently not weird enough. You still agreed to come with him," Kagami points out.

"Well of course I did. Atsushi is pretty fun to travel with, even if I don't totally understand why he absolutely HAD to go to this meeting. He didn't even seem to want to go."

"Then why did he? From the little you've told me about him, he doesn't seem like the type to do something he doesn't want to."

"I don't know. When I asked why he had to go all he said was, 'Aka-chin said so'. Whatever that means." They both share a look before laughing.

"No offense, Tatsuya," Kagami starts, still laughing, "but your boyfriend sounds really, really, weird."

Tatsuya, having settled down nods and says, "Yeah, he is, but he makes me really happy."

Smiling Kagami responds with a quick, "Good", before the waitress is back and setting down their food. They eat in silence for a while, just enjoying the company of each other.

"By the way, Taiga, how did that cooking class go. I know you were incredibly excited for it."

Quickly swallowing his food, Kagami sits up straight and exclaims, "It was amazing, Tatsuya. Simply amazing. It was a short class, but I feel like I've learned so much form it. I also got to meet the Chef! He came up to me after the class was over and complimented my cooking! He complimented it! He said he had been to the restaurant in Tokyo one night when I was working, and that he absolutely loved the food." He pauses quickly to take a drink and then continues, "That's not even the best part! He offered to exchange numbers, so we can keep in touch, share tips, and answer any question either of us have! He also said that he teaches classes, like the one I went to, throughout the year in both Kyoto and Tokyo. He said he would keep me informed as to when and where the classes would be!" Kagami sits back when he finishes and takes a deep breath. He had talked a bit faster than he intended. Looking at Tatsuya he can tell that his friend is quite amused by his actions. Cursing he thinks, Way to fangirl, Taiga.

Tatsuya senses Kagami's embarrassment and smiles kindly saying, "That's great. I'm glad you enjoyed it. And I'm happy for you. I know that all must have meant a lot to you. That Chef has been your favorite for a while now." Kagami nods enthusiastically. "Besides all that, how have you been enjoying your vacation?"

Immediately, Kagami thinks of Aomine and how he met the man. He blushes against his will and Tatsuya takes notice.

Pushing his food to the center of the table, Tatsuya places his elbows on the newly cleared space and places his face in his hands. "Taiga, did something interesting happen?"

"Uh, no." At Tatsuya's unimpressed stare he rephrases, "Not really. I just had a…..an odd run in with this guy a few days ago. Nothing serious."

Not buying that for a second Tatsuya questions, "An odd run in? Care to explain?"

With the blush growing, Kagami relents. He's never been good at lying to Tatsuya. "Well, I was in the hotel gym and I was doing a quick warm up and listening to some music. Since I was the only one in the room, I figured I wouldn't hurt anything for me to….sing a little." He stops when Tatsuya lets out a little laugh at that. Tatsuya waves a hand in apology and signals for Kagami to continue. He does, but not before throwing his so-called friend a nasty glare. "Anyways, I was singing and at some point, this guy walks in. He doesn't tell me he's there, he just casually watches me. I was so embarrassed. Worst part is, he's staying in the room right across from mine and I literally run into him every time I leave my room!" Kagami finishes his story and hopes that Tatsuya will leave it alone now. He doesn't.

"It couldn't have been that bad! I've heard you sing before, you have a wonderful voice." When Kagami doesn't say anything, Tatsuya asks, "What song were you singing?"

Kagami slid down the chair, as if trying to appear smaller and quietly mumbles, "Eye of the Tiger." Both men are quiet for a moment before Tatsuya breaks out in laughter. Kagami would glare, but he's pretty sure that, because of the deep blush on his face and neck, it would be completely ineffective. Tatsuya laughs for a while longer before Kagami snaps, "It's not funny! He calls me 'Tiger' every time he sees me now!" This only causes Tatsuya to laugh harder. "Tatsuyaaa. Stop laughing! It's not funny," Kagami whines. Tatsuya tries to stop himself, but he can't and just keeps laughing. Deciding nothing he said would help the situation, Kagami just sits there sipping his drink and glaring.

After what feels like hours to Kagami, Tatsuya finally stops laughing. He wipes at his eyes with the back of his hand, still grinning. "I'm sorry, but that's hilarious, Taiga." After taking a long drink he says, "Come on, Taiga, what's the big deal?"

Ignoring the question, Kagami says, "He even told his friend! She's actually pretty cool, though. I feel like her and I would actually be pretty great friends." After hesitating for a second he says, "He's a college basketball coach and she's the manager. He plays too. And his basketball, Tatsuya. It's amazing, like nothing I've ever seen before." He pauses before adding in a quiet voice, "Watching him play made we want to play again. I haven't wanted to play that bad since our second year of University, when I first got injured." Tatsuya gives him an understanding look before asking Kagami more about the two. Kagami proceeds to spend the next half hour telling Tatsuya every detail from the last few days that involve his two temporary neighbors. Tatsuya doesn't say anything, but he does laugh at some parts of Kagami's story.

"So, Taiga," Tatsuya starts, suddenly serious, "Are you ready for dinner with your father tonight?"

"Hell no," comes the immediate, angry response. Tatsuya gives him a sympathetic response and changes the subject and talks about his boyfriend for a while.

As they're leaving, Kagami tells Tatsuya, "You should bring your boyfriend over for dinner at my place one day soon. I'd love to meet him."

Tatsuya happily agrees and says, "I'll talk to Atsushi tonight and figure out when would be best for us." They hug goodbye and Kagami watches Tatsuya walk away until he can no longer see him. Smiling, Kagami slowly makes his way back to the hotel.

Once back at the hotel Kagami takes a quick shower and throws on some sweats, not ready to get dressed for dinner. Noticing that he still has a bit of time before he needs to start getting ready and decides to message Kuroko and see how he's doing. However, he only exchanges a few messages with his friend before he decides that he doesn't want to talk to him anymore. Kuroko kept asking about Aomine, though Kuroko doesn't know his name, and when Kagami was going to, in Kuroko's words, "just ask him out already". Crossing arms, Kagami glares down at his phone as it vibrates, alerting him that he received another message. Why did I think telling him would be a good idea? I'm such an idiot. Kagami knows that he should be upset at himself, not Kuroko. He was the one that told Kuroko everything over skype just last night, after returning from the basketball court. At least he was smart enough to not tell Kuroko Aomine's name. Kuroko, knowing Aomine played basketball in middle and high school, probably would have tried looking this man up. I barely know the guy and Kuroko is trying to set me up with him! Kagami can actually hear Kuroko's voice in his head saying, "You've never shown any interest in anyone, Kagami-kun. It's only natural that I be a bit excited to learn that you're finally interested in someone."

With a huff Kagami lifts himself off the bed to start getting dressed. He'll respond to Kuroko later. Maybe. He gets the suit he brought with him, specifically for this dinner, and changes into it. It's a simple, two-piece, black suit. He pairs it with a nice blood red, button up shirt. Looking in the mirror, he debated on whether to style his hair, or leave it alone. He doesn't know why he cares, but does. Enough to take a picture of himself, send it to Tatsuya, and ask him what he should do with his hair. He gets a response surprisingly quickly.

Do you have any styling gel with you?

Yes, Kagami responds after checking his bag.

Use that to slick your hair back.

Kagami does so and then sends a picture of the finished look. Like this?

Perfect, Taiga. You look good.

Thanks. After getting the confirmation from Tatsuya, he leaves the bathroom. He sits on the edge of the bed and slips on his black dress shoes. Once that's done, he picks up his wallet from the bedside table and places it in his pocket. Next, he grabs his watch and puts it on. He does a mental check, to make sure he hasn't missed anything. His phone goes off again and he checks it, immediately regretting it. It's a message from Tatsuya.

Any special reason you're suddenly worried about your appearance?

Like, say, a certain blue-haired man you couldn't stop talking about at lunch?

Angry, Kagami responds, Why would I be dressing up for him, bastard? I probably won't even see him!

Well, you did say that you run into him every time you leave your room. I just assumed you were dressing up in the event that it happens again. I mean, why else would you be putting so much effort into your looks? For your father?

Kagami can actually see that stupid little grin of Tatsuysa's. Almost as if he were looking right at him. He can even hear his friend's amusement through the message. Bastard. He and Kuroko both. Rotten friends they are, Kagami thinks with no real malice. He doesn't, however, dignify Tatsuysa's message with a response. He just aggressively shoves his phone in his pocket and heads to the door. He pauses a moment, once he reaches it. Did I dress up in case I ran into Aomine, he thinks. However, he quickly shakes his head and dismisses the thought. There's no way he would do something like that.

He takes a deep breath and opens the door. He'll never admit it, but he's slightly disappointed when he doesn't see Aomine. Shaking his head again, he heads to the elevator, already mentally preparing himself for the dinner with his dad. He gets another text from Tatsuya while his way down.

Good luck, bro.

Smiling slightly, he responds, Thanks, bro.

I doubt I'll be able to stay longer than ten minutes, though.

It's the thought that counts.

Kagami laughs at that. I don't think that saying was meant to be used in this kind of situation.

Technicalities.

Kagami laughs again as he steps off the elevator and puts his phone back in his pocket. When he looks up he sees Aomine and Momoi. They're sitting on one of the couches, Aomine watching the basketball game that's on the T.V. and Momoi on a laptop. She looks up and her eyes meet his. Her eyes widen as she takes in his appearance. He nods in greeting and she waves him over. He checks to make sure his ride wasn't there yet, it wasn't, before slowly making his way towards the two. Aomine hadn't seen him yet and Momoi was obviously enjoying looking him over. When he makes it over to where they're sitting, Aomine finally looks at him. He quickly looks away, however. Kagami's not sure, but he thinks he sees a light blush on Aomine's cheeks. He wants to get a closer look and find out, but he's stopped by Momoi, who starts talking.

"Kagamin, you look amazing," she gushes. Kagami pauses briefly at her nickname for him, but ignores it in the end.

Blushing a bit at her compliment he mumbles a quiet, "Thanks."

Smiling widely Momoi asks, "Are you going on a date? If so, the person is very lucky." Aomine, who had still been looking away, quickly snaps his head around and waits for Kagami's response with barely concealed interest.

"Ah, no," Kagami says, scratching the back of his head, careful not to mess up his hair. "Dinner with my father, actually," he manages to grit out. The other two pick up on his less than enthusiastic response, but thankfully don't mention it.

"It's a shame, really. I'd love to go on a date with someone who looks as good as you do," Aomine practically purrs at him. Kagami blinks down at Aomine. Sure, the man had been subtly flirting with him since they met, but nothing quite that blunt. He doesn't get a chance to respond, however, because in the next moment an elderly gentleman is tapping on his shoulder.

He turns and faces the man who then says, "Taiga-kun, I apologize for interrupting, but I was sent by your father to retrieve you and take you to the restaurant." Kagami nods before turning back to the other two.

"Sorry, but this is my ride." He bids them goodbye before following his driver out of the hotel and into a car.

When he arrives, he gives the hostess his name and is promptly guided to the table where his father is sitting, sipping wine. He takes a deep breath and steadies himself before taking a seat.

"Taiga, it's good to see you," his father drawls as soon as he gets seated. Kagami just grunts in response. He hasn't seen his dad in a few years, not since he took Kagami and Kuroko out to eat for graduating University. "Is that really any way to greet your father, Taiga," his father reprimands. Kagami ignores him in order to look over the menu, though he doubts he'll be able to stay that long. His dad sighs before saying, "You know, son, one of my business partners' son just graduated University. He's going to start working for his dad's company as soon as he gets back from vacation."

And it starts, Kagami thinks. "That's good for him," is all he gives in response.

Nodding, his father agrees, "It is. Very good for him, indeed. He seems excited about it."

"I can imagine why. He gets the opportunity to do what he likes. It's a great thing, being able to do what you love for a living, wouldn't you agree?"

Glaring his father bites back, "Yes, doing what you love is wonderful. So is doing something that's actually good for you. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Not necessarily," Kagami says back nonchalantly. "If you hate what you're doing, it can't be too good for you, can it?"

"Why can't you just listen to what I have to say, without any smart comments, Taiga," his dad asks through clenched teeth.

"Because we've had this conversation a million times. I know what you want to say, I know what you want from me. But I don't want the same thing, so really, what's the point?" Kagami can feel anger rising, despite himself.

"I only want what's best for you," his dad says in defense.

Placing the menu on the table and glares across the table at his father. "No. You want what's best for you. You want me to work for your company and take over one day. You want to show me off to all your associates as some kind of trophy. You don't even care that I hate business. You don't care about what I want at all."

His dad doesn't deny anything, just says, "You'd make such a great businessman, Taiga. I know you would." He pauses to take another sip of wine before continuing, "I could give you a spot in my company and introduce you to a nice young woman. I could help you, Taiga. If only you'd let me."

Kagami glares harder and practically snarls, "Yeah? You want to help? Then could you introduce me to any nice young men, then?"

"Absolutely not," comes the immediate response.

"Then I guess you don't really want to help me, then," Kagami shoots back just as fast, expecting that answer.

Slamming his hands down on the table, his father leans in close and says, "I don't what's gotten into you, Taiga, but it needs to stop. I tolerated your experimenting during college, but you're a grown man now. It's time to stop this game and get serious."

At that, Kagami snaps. He quickly stands up and says, "It's not a game and it never was. I don't know why coming here was a good idea." He then promptly turns around and begins taking steps towards the exit. He stops, however, and looks back over his shoulder and smirks. "And I think both of know exactly what's been 'getting into me'," he says with suggestively. "And I like it way too much to stop." With that, he turns his head back and doesn't look back.

He checks his phone once he's outside. Smiling a bit, he sends a quick message to Tatsuya.

23 minutes. I lasted 23 minutes.

He sees a cab and raises his hand, signaling his need for a ride. The driver sees him and pulls over. Kagami tells him the name of the hotel and they take off. Not long after, he gets a response from Tatsuya.

Better than 10.

The message is immediately followed by another.

Better than I would have done. I'm proud.

Kagami smiles, putting his phone away. He'll skype Tatsuya later and tell him everything.

Back at the hotel, Kagami quickly makes his way to his room, messes up his hair, and changes into his gym clothes. After the disaster dinner with his father, Kagami needs to work off some steam. What better way than to sweat it out?

Notes:

Chapter 4

Notes:

Chapter Text

Kagami takes a deep breath, tenses the muscles in his arms, and lifts the heavy bar, weighed down with massive weights on each side, up as far as his arms reach and holds for ten seconds. Slowly, he lowers the bar back to his chest, rests for a few moments, and then repeats. He does this for a while, occasionally adding more weights to both sides. Because he keeps himself in great shape it takes a while for his arm muscles to begin burning in protest, but he stops when they do. He stays sitting on the bench, stretching his arms and looks around the gym, thinking about what he should do next. He's already been there an hour and part of him wants to head back to his room for a quick shower and then sleep. However, he doubts he'd be able to sleep. There's still plenty of anger that he needs to work off first. Standing up, he rolls his shoulders, still contemplating what to do next. Running's out, he did that when he first got here. Spotting the yoga mat he brought with him, he finally settles for some core exercises.

As he picks his mat up, he belatedly realizes that he is alone on the gym. This realization brings back the memory of what happened that last time he was alone, or thought he was alone, in this room. He mentally curses at the reminder and securely locks away all thoughts and temptation of trying that again.

After laying the mat down, he lifts the bottom of his shirt up and wipes his face with it. He pauses a moment and then takes his shirt off completely, deciding that it will only get in his way. He does a few stretches to help prevent from being sore later on. When he's done, he lays down on the mat and starts with some crunches. Kagami, not being a fan of doing his exercises in sets, just goes until he can feel his abdominal muscles protesting. When that happens, he sits up and reaches for his water bottle. He takes a long drink and then sprays some on his face to help cool him down. Done with the water for the moment, he tosses it to the side and flops back on the mat to rest. A few minutes go by before he starts doing more crunches. He sits up when he feels his muscles start burning again. He sits up and makes eye contact with Aomine, who is sitting with his legs crossed only a foot or two away.

"Shit," Kagami curses as he scrambles backwards, quickly throwing his hands behind him to stop him from smashing his head on the ground.

Aomine laughs, uncurling his legs and crawling towards Kagami. "You alright there, Tiger," he asks once he's leaning over Kagami, their faces only inches apart.

"No, I'm not fine, you dick," he growls at the Aomine. Using one hand, he pushes on the blue-haired mans' chest, hoping to put some space between the two of them. "You scared the hell out of me!"

"My bad, Tiger," Aomine says with a smirk, clearly not sorry at all.

"Why didn't you say anything when you got here, or make some kind of noise to let me know you were here," Kagami questions, having gotten over the shock. He pushes himself up and crosses his legs, mimicking Aomine's earlier position.

"I thought it about," Aomine starts, sitting back down in his earlier place, "but I thought that if I didn't, I might get lucky and you would start singing again."

"Not really in the mood to sing right now, sorry," is Kagami's quick response.

Aomine looks hard at Kagami, so much so that Kagami becomes uncomfortable and begins fiddling with his headband. He's about to tell Aomine to quit looking at him, but Aomine finally speaks up before he can. "Yeah, I can tell," he says seriously. "Everything alright?" Kagami blinks at the sincerity in the other man's voice and debates on what to say.

Finally, he settles with, "Not really, at the moment. But I'll be fine later. Thanks."

Giving a nod in return, Aomine starts staring again. He opens his mouth and then closes again, not sure if he should say what he wants to. When Kagami raises an eyebrow at him, he decides to go for it anyways. "Would your bad mood have anything to do with the dinner with your father?"

Kagami, not surprised that Aomine picked up on his reluctance to go to the dinner, nods and says, "I only lasted 23 minutes before I couldn't stand it and had to leave."

Aomine looks torn between feeling bad for him and wanting to laugh. Kagami can't blame him, he kind of feels the same.

"That means you didn't get a chance to eat, then," Aomine asks with his head tilted. He smiles brightly at Kagami's nod. "Then would you like to go with me to get some food? I was too caught up watching the game earlier that I forgot to eat." He scratches the back of his head sheepishly. Kagami has to force himself to maintain eye contact, as opposed to admiring the way the muscles in Aomine's tense at the action. When Kagami doesn't answer, Aomine adds, "I can't promise that I'll have any good advice or anything like that, but I don't mind listening if you need to rant to someone. Not that you have to tell me anything, of course." He gets more and more flustered as he talks, but he manages to make it through.

Kagami, having realized that he was smiling (When did that happen?), nods and says, "Yeah, that sounds good. I'm starving. Though I won't subjugate you to my rant."

Aomine's face brightens as he says, "Great! There's this burger place not too far from here, just a few minutes by foot." He stands and offers his hand to Kagami, which is taken appreciatively. "And I meant what I said. If you want to rant, I'll listen." Kagami gives him a small smile before bending over to pick up his mat and rolling it up. He retrieves his water bottle before turning back to Aomine.

"I need to drop these off at my room first and get my wallet."

"That's fine. I need to get mine, too."

The trip back to their rooms in made in silence, but not an uncomfortable one. As he opens the door to his room, he briefly thinks if going out with a man he barely knows is a good idea. It's a fleeting thought, however. Tatsuya use to do this all the time. And it's not like I can't leave whenever. Speaking of Tatsuya, Kagami decides to send a quick message to the man, telling him where he's going.

Remember that gut I told you about at lunch. I'm going to dinner with him, right now.

When he's done he quickly throws his mat and water bottle in an empty chair and picks up his wallet before heading back out. He sees Aomine leaning against the opposite wall. The man straightens when Kagami comes out and gives him a slight nod.

"You know," Aomine starts as the make towards the elevator, "Satsuki was really upset when I told her where I was going."

"How come," Kagami asks, confused.

"She seems to have taken a liking to you. She was upset I told her she couldn't go with us."

"Why'd you tell her that?"

"I don't know. Figured you wouldn't want two people you hardly know listening to you rant."

Touched, Kagami gives a quiet, "Thanks," before they lapse into silence again. Like before, it's not an uncomfortable silence. Kagami follows Aomine to the cafe, trusting that he won't get the both of them lost. He's staring at the back of Aomine's shoulders, which Kagami deems to be very nice shoulders, when his phone vibrates.

Nicely done, bro! But remember, don't do anything naughty on the first date, Taiga. Nothing I wouldn't do, anyways.

Scowling, Kagami types out, What wouldn't you do on the first date? He hits send right as he and Aomine make it to the café.

As they're waiting to be seated, he gets a response.

Touché.

Chuckling a bit, he pockets his phone and follows Aomine and the waitress to their table. They give the waitress their drink order and waits for her to bring them. By the time she comes back they're both ready to order.

"I'll take ten cheeseburgers are three orders of fries," Kagami, being immune to the strange stares his order receives, says in a monotone, but polite face. He looks across the table at Aomine and suddenly feels a little self-conscious about his order. Aomine's mouth is agape and his eyes are wide. Kagami quickly averts his eyes, embarrassed. However, his embarrassment is short lived.

"I'll have the same," Aomine states, still staring at Kagami, but with his mouth closed now. The waitress, bewildered, can do little more than nod before leaving to go put their orders in. Kagami and Aomine are the only two in the little café, so the cook starts their order right away, no doubt shocked by the orders.

"I've never met anyone who can eat as much as me," Aomine says in wonder. "Well, I do, but he mostly eats sweets, so I don't think it really counts," he quickly amends after a moment's thought.

Laughing Kagami agrees, "I haven't either. My best-friend hardly eats at all. He's always making fun of my appetite."

"Satsuki used to make fun of me, but I think she got bored of it after a while. Now she just rolls her eyes."

"The two of you seem to be great friends," Kagami comments, thinking of his friendship with both Kuroko and Tatsuya.

"We are. We've been neighbors our whole lives and our families are close, so we grew up together." He has a small smile on his face as he talks about his friendship with the pink-haired women.

"That sounds a lot like me and my brother."

"You and your brothers' families are close? I would certainly hope so," Aomine says with no small amount of confusion.

Laughing at the misunderstanding, Kagami clarifies, "He's not my real brother, we're just really great friends. I met him in America when I was young and we've been friends ever since. He's actually the one that got me into basketball." Aomine nods in understanding and looks excited when basketball is brought up. Kagami's sure he's going to ask more about the sport, but instead the man reaches across the table and snaps the headband Kagami forgot to take off.

"Don't try distracting me with basketball," he laughs. Sitting back, he takes a sip of his drink before demanding, "Now, rant to me, Tiger."

Kagami sighs, not really knowing where to start. He decides to start off broad and let Aomine asks for specifics. "Basically, my father disapproves with everything that I am."

Aomine doesn't looked all that shocked, that he somehow expected that was the case. "Is there anything specifically he disapproves of?"

"My choice of career and my sexuality," Kagami answers bluntly. It's obvious that Aomine was serious about not minding if he talks to him about it, so Kagami doesn't feel the need to be hesitant anymore.

"Woah. Okay, yeah. I can see how that basically disapproves of everything you are. How about we start with the easier topic? You're a Chef, right," he pauses to get confirmation. When he gets it, he continues, "Right, why does he not like that you're a Chef. Seems like a good job to me."

"It's a great job and I love it. But it doesn't fit into his plan," he pauses to gather his thoughts. Aomine allows him to think, not rushing him. "His plan was for me to go to University and study business, which I did. But I hated, so when he offered me a position at one of his companies, I said no. Immediately after I enrolled in Culinary school. And fell in love. I can't imagine doing anything else now."

"Hmph. He doesn't approve because it didn't fit his plan for your life? That's stupid. No offense, or anything, but it's stupid. And immature."

"No offense taken. I'm in complete agreement," Kagami says with a laugh. It's surprisingly easy to talk to someone he just met a few days ago. And it helps, getting an opinion from someone who doesn't personally know his father.

"And he has a problem with your sexuality? How is that even any of his business," Aomine asks, slightly angry.

Kagami sighs. "It's not. But he's under the impression that it could ruin my chance of becoming someone in the business industry. Even if I wanted to be in business, I doubt my sexuality would matter. I think he's just afraid that some of his associates will look down on him or something."

"Why does he think that? Do you think they would?"

"Probably. Not all, but a lot of them believe in the 'traditional' relationships. You know, getting married to a woman and having a few kids, who would one day take over the business."

"That's absurd."

Nodding, Kagami says, "It is. It's not that he thinks that way, really. Or doesn't approve, I don't care about that. I just want to spend time with my dad again. We were so close when I was younger, before I went off to college." With a dry laugh he says, "He seems to think that I'm still in my 'college experimentation' faze and that he didn't know what had gotten into me, but that I should 'just give it up already'."

"He actually said that? To your face?"

"Oh yeah. He did. I bet he loved my response to that, too. But I left without checking. Shame really."

"What did you say, man? You can't just say something like that and then not tell me," Aomine whines, taking a drink.

"I told him that he and both knew exactly what had gotten into me and that I liked it too much to stop," Kagami responds. He watches in amusement as Aomine chokes on his drink and ends up spraying all over his said of the table.

"You did not say that," Aomine accuses, still sounding a little choked up.

"I did," Kagami defends. "I'm actually quite proud I was able to come up with that so quickly." Aomine is staring again, this time with amusement and intrigue.

"I bet he's thrilled to know some of the juicy details of your sex life."

"Oh, I'm sure he is." They share a laugh together.

"Damn, I really wish you has seen his face after that." They laugh again as their food is brought out. They thank the waitress and dig in. Neither had really realized just how hungry they were.

They both eat fairly quickly, so they're both a little over half way done when Kagami asks, "So, you're a basketball coach. That sounds amazing. How do you like it?"

Aomine brightens significantly at the question, "I love it. I didn't think it was possible for me to love anything as much as I loved playing basketball, but coaching is a close second, if not tied for first. And the kids are great. They all love the sport and put their all into it. I don't doubt that they could all go far, if they wanted." Seeing Aomine get so passionate about teaching a sport that he loves is doing funny things to Kagami's heart. They finish their food and pay, before leaving.

"Hey, you want to stop by the court for a while on our way back," Aomine asks, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Kagami, who couldn't think of anything better, nods. It's not a far walk and as they arrive Kagami looks at Aomine and says, "Thanks. For listening to me. That was really nice of you."

Aomine shrugs and says, "It's no big deal. Sometimes all a person needs is for someone to listen." He looks a little distant as he says this. Kagami wants to ask, but doesn't want to touch a sensitive subject. He has his own sore subjects. Unconsciously, he reaches down and lays his hand on his leg, right above left knee. He shakes his head and removes his hand as he and Aomine take a seat a few feet away from the concrete of the court.

They sit in silence for a while before Kagami speaks up. "How did you get into basketball?"

Aomine, who had been looking at the court, directs his gaze to Kagami and says, "When I was eleven, Satsuki and I were walking around a local park. I saw a few older guys playing and was intrigued. I asked them to teach me the basics and they agreed. I picked up on it quick and fell in love with it quicker. After that, Satsuki and I would go to a nearby court almost every day." Kagami smiles at his story. "What about you, Tiger?"

He ignores the nickname, being used to it by now, and responds with his own story. "I was about eleven, too and in America. I was having problems making friends and connecting with anyone. Then I met Tatsuya, the guy I called my brother earlier. He asked me to play a game with him, his team was short a player. After that, he kept asking me to play with him. Like you, I fell in love with the game quickly. Tatsuya and I could always be found at the court. One day we met who would become our mentor. After finally convincing her to tutor us, both he and I became really strong. We played on the same team in high school. We both came back to Japan for University, but we didn't go to the same one. He didn't play at all in University, but I played my first year." Kagami hopes he doesn't ask why he stopped playing, he's not sure he wants to talk about it at the moment. Thankfully, Aomine seems to pick up on this and doesn't say anything, for which Kagami is eternally grateful.

Aomine's phone goes off and he groans when he sees who it's from.

"Everything alright," Kagami asks.

"Yeah. It's just Satsuki wondering where I am. I guess I didn't realize how late it has gotten."

Kagami checks his phone for the time and sure enough, it had gotten fairly late. "Do you want to head back now?" He looks up from his phone to see Aomine on his phone, smirking.

"Not just yet. There's one thing I want to do first." Kagami doesn't have time to ask him anything before Aomine's phone begins playing a very familiar song. Kagami groans and Aomine laughs evilly. Kagami, deciding not let Aomine think he's won, begins doing the unthinkable. He starts singing along.

"It's the eye of the tiger

It's the thrill of the fight

Rising up to the challenge of our rival

And the last known survivor

Stalks his prey in the night

And he's watching us all with the eye of the tiger"

Aomine drops his phone in shock and Kagami laughs.

"What? Surprised," Kagami teases, clearly pleased with himself. Aomine had turned the song off, displeased that his trick hadn't gone the way he intended. Kagami laughed again and started messing with his phone. Aomine started getting up, but froze when Kagami's phone started playing a song. He knew the song word for word, but he would never admit such a thing. Playing on Kagami's phone was a Taylor Swift song. Kagami saw the look of horror on Aomine's face and began laughing mechanically, enjoying having the tables turned for once.

"I don't care what Satsuki says, I don't listen to that," Aomine growls. Kagami, not believing him for a second, stands up and offers his hand to Aomine. Glaring, Aomine takes the offered hand, but looks upset about it. Still laughing, turns the music off and they start heading back to the hotel. It's quiet. Until Kagami starts humming the song that was just playing on his phone. Aomine groans and shoves him, which just causes Kagami to laugh harder and hum more enthusiastically.

He continues to hum until they're standing outside their room doors. Then more laughter replaces the humming. One second he's laughing and the next he's being pressed against the wall by Aomine.

"You think it's funny, do you?" Kagami fears for a moment that he took his little joke too far, but relaxes when he sees the smirk on Aomine's face and the amusement in his eyes.

"Mmmm, I do," Kagami responds, a little breathless. Having Aomine this close to him does wicked things to his mind.

Aomine leans closer and says, "Don't start thinking you've won anything. This isn't over yet, Tiger," he's whispering, but he's so close that it doesn't matter. Kagami can hear him perfectly. "You'll be here through the weekend, yes?" Kagami nods, curious as to where Aomine's going with this. He doesn't care, really. As long as Aomine stays this close. Or closer. Yeah, closer would be better. Almost like he can see Kagami's thoughts, Aomine pushes impossibly closer, until their noses are touching. Looking straight into his eyes he challenges Kagami, "You and me, one-on-one." Kagami's not sure if he's talking about basketball, or something else. He finds himself hoping for the something else. Again, Aomine seems to read his thoughts, for he lets out a low chuckle and says, "We can get to that afterwards, Tiger. But first, I want to see how well you move on the court."

Kagami, having to take a few breaths, finally responds with, "You're on." He's proud that his voice doesn't waver.

Aomine's smirk widens and he says, "Good. Then should we shake on it, or…" he trails off, but Kagami's smart enough to know what was supposed to be said. In answer, he tilts his head up, letting Aomine know his decision, but making him do it. Aomine has no problem with that and starts leaning in. Right as their lips are about to touch, they hear a door open, followed by a loud, "Dai-chan!"

Aomine jumps back quickly before turning around, facing his friend, who interrupted them.

"Satsuki," he whines, like she did it on purpose. The smile on her face convinces Kagami that she very well might have.

"Don't give me that tone. It's late, I have a long day planned tomorrow, so you need to get to sleep. And you shouldn't be keeping Kagamin from sleep, either." With that, she pulls the blue-haired man into the room and gives a cheery, "Night, Kagamin!"

Kagami watches the door close. Once it is he brings his hands up and cups his face, breathing deeply. If Momoi hadn't come out when she did, the night might have ended with Kagami doing some very Tatsuya like things. Pushing himself off the wall, he unlocks his door and heads inside. He slips his shoes off and throws himself on the bed. Immediately he gets his phone out and sends a quick message to Tatsuya.

Oh man.

Tell me everything, is the immediate response. Before he can start though, he gets another message.

And please tell me you did something to make me proud, Taiga.

Kagami chooses to ignore the second message and begins typing out an essay to send Tatsuya.

Notes:

Chapter 5

Notes: Well, I got it done before Sunday was over, which was the plan! I'm not completely happy with it though, I couldn't seem to get it to go the direction I wanted, but that's okay. I think it's fine the way it is. (At least I hope it is) And I know, I didn't have them play basketball together, but I figured I should leave some stuff for the next fic! Also, sorry if this seems a bit rushed. This chapter was hard for me. It was supposed to be a quick epilogue of sorts. It's main purpose was to set things up for the next fic. So while trying to keep it short, I feel like I rushed it. Thanks for reading! I hope that you enjoy and are looking forward to the next fic. (I'm going to completely finish writing it before I start posting, so I don't know for sure when it'll be ready. But hopefully soon!)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Looking at the shelf of baking goods in front of him, Kagami thinks back to the messages from Tatsuya. He and Tatsuya were finally able to work out a night for Tatsuya to bring his boyfriend over to Kagami's place for dinner. Kagami had been told by Tatsuya that his boyfriend loves sweets. Wanting to impress, Kagami decided to make a lemon cake with lemon filling, his specialty. While searching for the proper ingredients, his phone goes off. He checks it, but when he sees that it's a message from Kuroko, he puts his phone back in his pocket without answering. He feels a little guilty, but he doesn't really want to talk to Kuroko. He knows what his best friend wants to talk about and he doesn't want to talk about it.

The morning after he and Aomine went out to dinner, and Aomine challenged him to a one-on-one, he left his room to go get breakfast and saw the cleaning crew right outside the room where Aomine was staying. He didn't think anything of it at the time, but when he returned he saw a family of four entering the room. He realized then that Aomine and Momoi must have checked out. Meaning he wouldn't be seeing them anymore. Of course, he had told both Tatsuya and Kuroko everything that had happened between him and Aomine. So, when he came back from his vacation with no new stories and slightly disappointed, they both figured something had happened. Kagami, however, didn't tell them what. It didn't matter to him, it was over. Yeah, he was a little disappointed, (okay, really disappointed) but there was nothing he could do about it. Kagami would have loved to play against Aomine, and get to know him better, but he assumes it just wasn't meant to be.

Sighing, Kagami grabs the items that he needs and heads to check out. When he turns around, he runs right into someone, nearly spilling his baskets. When he looks up, his eyes widen and his breath leaves him momentarily. There in front of him is Aomine. Aomine looks just as surprised to see Kagami, as Kagami is to see him. However, he recovers first.

"Tiger," Aomine exclaims, a huge smile on his face.

"Aomine," he responds with a nod, still in shock. He honestly never thought he'd see the blue-haired man.

"Oh man, am I happy to see you!" Aomine frowns a bit and then says, "I want to explain why I left so suddenly. You know, before we could play together."

"You don't have to explain anything," Kagami argues as he starts to walk towards the front of the store.

Aomine follows him and says, "But I want to." Aomine waits until they've both checked out and are outside before he starts explaining. "Satsuki and I were supposed to stay longer, and I was so excited to play ono-on-one with you. But shortly after Satsuki dragged me into the room, I got a call saying that one of the guys on my team got in an accident and was in the hospital." At Kagami's horrified expression, he rushes to say, "He's alright now. But when I was told one of my boys was in the hospital, I couldn't stay in Kyoto, I has to come back and be here for him."

Kagami smiles at that. He finds it endearing, that Aomine cared for his players so much. "You're a good coach, you seem to really care for your players," he says with a smile.

Returning his smile, Aomine says, "I do." He stares at Kagami a moment before saying, "I just wanted you to know that I wasn't playing around, that I was serious when I said I wanted to play you. I was serious about everything." His voice drops a little at that last sentence.

Catching on easily, Kagami smirks and teasingly says, "Were you now?"

"Definitely," Aomine responds immediately. Neither of them say a thing for a moment. Finally, Aomine breaks the silence and asks, "So, I take it you live here in Tokyo?" Kagami can hear the hope in Aomine's voice and nods slightly. Smiling broadly Aomine says, "Great, so do I."

Blushing Kagami asks, "So, uh, do you want to..exchange numbers, maybe? That way we can plan a place and date to meet-up?" As soon as he finishes, Kagami can't believe himself. He just asked a man he barely knows if he could have his number. However, at the memory of being presses against a wall, lips almost touching, by the same man, Kagami doesn't feel as strange about it anymore. I was prepared to do a lot more than exchange numbers with him that night.

Even if Kagami hadn't calmed himself down, Aomine's answer would have. "Absolutely," he remarks, eagerly retrieving his phone from his pocket.

After they've exchanged numbers, Kagami remembers that he has dinner to prepare. "I've got plans tonight, so I've got to get going, but we need to schedule that game soon. I've been waiting."

Aomine responds with, "Don't worry, Tiger, we will. I've been waiting, too."

With that, they say their goodbyes and go their separate ways, both equally excited for all the things to come.

Back at his place, Kagami had just finished the cake and placed it in the fridge. He was putting the finishing touches on dinner, Teriyaki burgers, when there was a knock at his door. He opened the door with a smile, but his mouth dropped open when he saw the man standing next to his friend.

"Oh please tell me he plays basketball," Kagami says, looking at his friends boyfriend, Murasakibara. Tatsuya laughs and nods as he and his boyfriend are let in.

The three of them spend the next few hours eating and talking. Tatsuya comments on how Kagami looks a lot happier than he has the past week. Kagami tells him that the man he met in Kyoto had left before they could play, but that he had met him again earlier that day. He explains that this time, they exchanged numbers. Tatsuya makes fun of him for a while, while Murasakibara watches on lazily. They, of course, talk about basketball for a majority of the time. Murasakibara tries to feign indifference to the conversation, but even he can't help but give his opinion on a certain team or player every now and then.

Hours later, as Kagami is walking his company to the door, Murasakibara says, "I think Mine-chin would like Kaga-chin. He plays basketball and his cooking is delicious." He offers up no explanation as both Kagami and Tatsuya give him confused looks.

"I think that's one of his friends," Tatsuya guesses.

Not have anything else to do, Kagami nods. As he opens the door for them he says, "I had a nice time. The two of you should come back sometime."

Murasakibara seems to perk up slightly at the invitation. "We'll be back," he says confidently. "Kaga-chin makes the best lemon cake."

Kagami laughs and blushes a bit. Coming from someone who almost exclusively eats sweets, Kagami knows that those simple words mean a lot. He thanks them both for coming one last time before closing the door. He can't help but smile to himself. HE had finally met the person that makes Tatsuya happy, and he seems like a great guy. Not only that, but he somehow managed to run into Aomine and even got his number.

As if on cue, his phone, which is sitting on the bar, goes off. He makes his way over to it and his smile widens when he sees it's from Aomine.

One-on-one, next Saturday? Is all it said.

Smirking, Kagami instantly responded, Name the time and place, I'll be there. After hitting send Kagami immediately thought, Is it next Saturday yet? What he didn't know, was that miles away, in his own apartment, Aomine was thinking the exact same thing.

A Panther and his Tiger Hitsugayaduckling19 Summary: Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1 Chapter Text

It takes all of Aomine's self-control to stop himself from skipping all the way back to his apartment. He can't quite keep the huge grin off his face, however. He can't believe his luck, running into Kagami tonight. When he had to abruptly leave Kyoto, before playing basketball with Kagami, he was beyond disappointed. He didn't nk focus on the disappointment for long, though. Instead, his mind was filled with worry for his player, and hoping that it wasn't anything serious. Even after he was told that his player would be alright, he was restless until he was able to finally see him. The first thing he did was smack the boy over the head.

"What the hell were you thinking, dumbass? You can have died," Aomine yells, giving his player a slap to the back of the head.

"Ouch! Coach, that hurt! You shouldn't hit me, I'm injured," the boy yells, holding up his bandaged arm as proof.

"Your own fault, kid," Aomine snorts. "Who tries to play leap frog on a flight of stairs anyways? Idiots, that's who."

"That's harsh, coach. I wasn't the only one, you know."

"Oh, I know. Trust me, when practice starts back up, I'll make sure the other guys know regret their decision." Aomine stays in the room until the boy falls asleep. Before leaving, he leans over the bed and ruffles the kids head and whispering, "No more stupid games, kid. I'm not cut out for this worrying shit.

Aomine saw red when the doctor told him what had happened. The boy was lucky he was in a cast, or Aomine might have hit him harder. So yeah, Aomine didn't really have the time, at first, to wallow in his disappointment. But as soon as everything calmed down, his player was released from the hospital, and Aomine was back in his apartment, the disappointment came back. And that disappointment had been lurking in the back of his mind ever since. That's why running into Kagami, and getting his number, lifted his spirits so much.

Aomine's not completely stupid, he was aware that he had been coming on to the red-head pretty strong. But he's a man that knows what he wants, and he wanted Kagami. Now, if the man had shown signs of being uncomfortable, or of being violated in any way, Aomine would have gladly backed off. But Kagami had laughed along with him and even flirted back once or twice, which pleased Aomine greatly.

His grin broadens, if that's even possible at this point, when he remembers that Kagami is the one who asked to exchange numbers, not him. That just proves to Aomine that Kagami was at least somewhat into him, as well. Aomine had taken a chance when they had first met. He had no way of knowing whether or not Kagami was into men, but when he saw the man, he decided that it was worth the risk. He's glad he did.

Man, Satsuki is going to thrilled when I tell her. Satsuki had taken an immediate like to 'Kagamin', as she called him. The thought of telling his best-friend has him quickening his steps a bit, ready to get home so he can call and tell her.

He takes the stairs two at a time while he digs around in his pockets, looking for his keys. He manages to find them and pull them out right as he arrives in front of his door. The moment the door is open Aomine starts toeing off his shoes and begins dialing Momoi's number. A loud squeal coming from his living room has him dropping his phone and almost tripping over his shoes. His head snaps up and he's greeted by the sight of his best-friend on his couch, surrounded by empty drinks and food wrappers. Aomine places a hand over his heart and glares at the back of his friend's head.

"Oi, Satsuki! What the hell," he yells, trying to pretend that he didn't almost have a heart attack.

"Sorry, Dai-chan. But Natsu just said his signature line, so I know things are fixing to get good," she responds calmly, eyes never leaving the screen.

Aomine just stares at her with a blank look on his face, not understanding anything she just said. One look at the T.V has him rolling his eyes. Is this anime the only thing she ever watches? "You know what, I'm not even going to ask. It doesn't matter. Why are you even here? And why are you eating all my food?"

She turns to look at him now that the episode she was on is over and explains, "There was some kind of electrical issue at my place and the power was out. I was really in the mood to watch Fairy Tail so I came over here!" Aomine opens his mouth to scold her about coming over uninvited, even though it's a pretty common occurrence, but is stopped when she snaps back around towards the screen and says, "Now shhhh, the next episode is starting."

He just glares at the back of her head, not even slightly surprised that she would tell him to be quiet in his own house. That's a pretty common occurrence, too. "So, you'll never guess who I ran into at the store," he says, trying to act casual about it.

"Don't care," comes her immediate response.

Aomine closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. No matter how many years he's spent are her, he always forgets how she is when she's watching anime. A smirk forms on his face as an idea pops into his head. Opening his eyes, he starts walking down the hall leading to his bedroom. "I guess that means you don't care about how I got Kagami's number, then," he says, trying not to laugh. He's expecting Momoi to yell at him and demand that he tell her everything. What he's not expecting is to hear a crash and a few mumbled curses. The next thing he knows, Momoi is running into him from behind, wrapping her arms around his chest, and pulling him back down the hall. Then she roughly shoves him down onto the couch before jumping on the spot next to him.

"Tell me everything," she demands.

"I thought you didn't care? I thought you wanted to watch your show?" Aomine smirks as she gives him a particularly nasty glare.

"Dai-chan," she says simply. A warning, Aomine knows.

With a sigh Aomine gives in. "There's not much to say, really. I ran into him at the store, told him why we had to leave Kyoto so suddenly, we talked about playing ono-on-one, and then he suggested we exchange numbers." Momoi was smiling by the time he was done talking. "Looked nervous when he asked to, like I would say no to that," he adds on with a snort.

"I don't care about the boring stuff, Dai-chan. What I want to know is when the two of you will have your one-on-one." The little wink she gave him lets Aomine know that her thoughts are nowhere near PG.

"Satsuki," he growls out, feeling his face heat up. "We barely know each."

Her mouth drops in disbelief at that. "Dai-chan," she shrieks. "You had him pinned to the wall, ready to strip his clothes our last night in the hotel! In fact, I'm fairly certain you would have done just that if I hadn't come out when I did."

She watches in amusement as Aomine's blush darkens. "I would not have," he argues. "I've more self-control that that! I just wanted to tease the guy a bit." He tilts his head and adds, as an afterthought, "He is pretty cute when he blushes, though. Makes me want to lose control."

"Aw," Momoi coos, leaning forward to pinch his cheek, "You're pretty cute when you blush, too, Dai-chan!" Aomine swats her hand away and scoots further away from her. She lets him go and continues, "It's such a shame that you don't blush more often." Before he has the chance to tell her off, she's jumping off the couch and exclaiming, "Oh, I know! I can take a picture. That way, I'll be able to see your cute, blushing face whenever I want! I'll even send it to Kise, he'll be so happy!"

"No!" Aomine yells in absolute horror, quickly grabbing her wrist to stop her from retrieving her phone. "If you do that, I won't tell you about anything that happens between me and Kagami," he threatens, mind scrambling for a way to keep her from taking a picture. Or worse, sending said picture to Kise. He shudders at the thought.

However, the threat of not getting any details on his potential love life has her pausing. She purses her lips and thinks about it for a long moment. Eventually, she relents, shoulders sagging. "Fine," she huffs out, yanking her wrist free and plopping back down on the couch.

Aomine breathes a sigh of relief and relaxes back into the cushions. Momoi, a little upset at not getting her desired picture, goes back to watching her anime, ignoring Aomine. Aomine is grateful for this, wanting to relax a bit. Closing his eyes, he thinks back to when he first met Kagami.

Aomine was too restless to sleep. He had stayed in the room with Momoi, who had been feeling sick, all day. He was usually in the gym every day, practicing right alongside his team. His muscles aren't used to being inactive for this long. He had tried stretching a bit, but it hadn't helped any. Not wanting to stay in bed any longer, afraid his tossing and turning would wake up Momoi, he quickly changes into his gym clothes, grabs a key, and exits the room. He quickly makes his way to the gym, wanting to hurry and get back to bed. Momoi was going to make him go shopping with her tomorrow, so he needed a decent amount of sleep.

Arriving at the gym, he's displeased to see that there is someone else already in there. Usually, he preferred to work out alone. He's mentally debating on whether he should just go in anyways, or take a quick jog around the block, when he hears singing. Furrowing his brows in confusion, he takes a quick look around. There's no one else on the hall with him. In fact, the gym is the only room close to him. He turns his head back to the gym door and takes a few steps closer. Noticing that the singing seems to be louder, he keeps creeping closer until his ear was only a few inches from the door. There was no doubt about it, the singing was coming from the person inside the gym. A small smirk appeared on his face as he listened. He knew that song. Quietly, as to not alert the other of his presence, he pushes open the door.

He didn't know what he was going to do exactly, but whatever it was didn't happen. Now in the room, Aomine could tell that the other person in there was a man. An incredibly attractive man. He's perfect, Aomine thought, taking in the mans' wild, red hair. He had to swallow, throat suddenly dry, as his eyes landed on the mans' broad, muscular shoulders. Aomine definitely appreciated a nice pair of shoulders. Eventually, he moved his gaze further down, taking in the way the mans' tank top clung to his back before moving down even further. It took all of his strength, but he managed to not stare at the mans' butt. He figured that would be a little too creepy.

The man started singing louder, snapping Aomine out of his gawking. Shaking his head, Aomine smirks, trying to come off as though he hadn't just been appreciating the mans' form as if it were a piece of art. His smirk widens when the red-head turns around and promptly freezes when he sees Aomine. Shit, he really is perfect, is the only thing Aomine can think as he takes in the captivating eyes and handsome face of the other.

"Oh man, you done already? That's a real shame, I was really enjoying it," Aomine says, watching as the re-head flushes an even darker red. Aomine waits as the other man tries to decide on how to respond.

"What the hell man? When did you get here?" he yells, ignoring Aomine's previous statement.

Smirk growing, Aomine steps a bit closer and says, "Oh, right about the time you made it to the chorus the first time."

"Why didn't you say anything, you asshole," he's clearly upset at getting caught and Aomine can't blame him. He probably would be too.

"And interrupt you? I would never." Aomine says in mock offense. "Like I said, I was enjoying the show. I mean, who wouldn't? An incredibly attractive man, such as yourself, acting like a complete dork while working out. I'm pretty sure my heart stopped when I first got here." Aomine knew that he was laying it on a little thick, but he wanted to be sure his interest got across to the man.

Now, Aomine got to watch as the blush traveled own the mans' neck. Aomine doesn't move as he notices the red-head takes his time looking him over. However, once the man had a good once over, Aomine decided to stop being silent. "Are you done checking me out, or do you want me to pose for you a little?"

At that, the man snaps his head up and narrows his eyes at Aomine. Ah, so he's got a little fight him, does he? Perfect.

"I don't mind. Posing, that is. As long as it's for you, anyways." Aomine's messing with him now, but he can't help it. It's in his nature. He takes a few steps closer, putting his face only a few centimeters from the red-heads'. Using a finger, he lightly snaps the headband that the man is wearing. "My name is Aomine. Aomine Daiki. Yours?" Aomine watches as him deliberate and has to stop himself from jumping in joy when he sees the other smirk.

"Kagami. Kagami Taiga."

Aomine blinks a few times, taking the new information in. After a moment, he starts laughing. Oh, man. I think I'm in love. He gets himself together quickly and says, "Well, Tiger, you sure caught my eye."

At that, Kagami's face is once again bright red, clashing with his hair in a way that Aomine can't help but find adorable. Kagami looks like he wants to say something, but instead just turns around with a huff and starts aggressively gathering up his things. Aomine watches him leave with a smirk, deciding that coming down to the gym was a great idea. He wasn't really in the mood to work-out anymore, restless for a completely different reason now. One that only a cold shower would help, so that's exactly what he planned to do. Decision made, Aomine left the gym and made his way towards the elevator. The doors open right as he walks up and when the doors open, a familiar, pink-haired woman is running right into him.

"Dai-chan!" the women exclaims! "I was so worried. I woke up and you weren't there! I tried calling you, but your phone was in the room!"

"Sorry, Satsuki. I couldn't sleep so I thought I would work-out for a bit."

"You could have at least left a note or something! Or actually take your phone next time!" She looks him up and down, eyes squinting. "You don't look like you've been working out."

"Yeah, well," he responds, scratching the back of his head sheepishly, "Something kind of…. Came up?

At his questioning tone, Momoi's eyes narrow further. "Hmmm," she stares at him suspiciously for a moment, before her expression changes, a wide grin forming on her face. "Well, you can tell me all about it after you buy me food." She loops her arm through one of his and starts guiding him towards the hotel entrance.

"Food? Why are we getting food?"

"You said you couldn't sleep, and since you didn't work out, I figured we'd go get something to eat. And while we eat, you can tell me all about this thing that just came up."

"And just what makes you think I want to tell you about it, huh?"

"Oh, Da-chan, I just know." She sighs softly and leans her head on his shoulder. "I always know with you."

Glancing down, he smiles slightly. Yeah, I guess you do, he thinks. He's actually pretty excited to tell her about the Tiger he just met, but would never admit it, let alone bring the subject up himself. He's quietly letting her lead him to where she wants to eat when a thought it hits him. "Oi! Why the hell am I paying for you?"

"Because you're the reason I had to get out of bed. You owe me, obviously."

"I didn't make you do anything! You got out of bed all on your own!" She doesn't dignify that with a response, just pinches his arm. Rubbing the sore spot Aomine says, "I don't even have my wallet with me, so what are we going to do?" Without answering, Momoi just holds her free hand up and Aomine glares as he sees his plain black wallet clutched in it. Snatching it away, he mumbles, "You totally planned this." Momoi just giggles a bit and burrows her face further into his shoulder.

A little while later, food gone and story told, Aomine walks back to the hotel, Momoi's arm once again looped through his.

"That was so cruel, Dai-chan!" Momoi managed between laughs.

"Was not." Aomine defender, though he was laughing too.

They continued chatting and laughing, but fell silent as they finally made it back to the floor they were staying on, not wanting to wake up the other guests.

Aomine had just opened the door to their room when, out of the corner of his eyes, he sees a flash a red hair. He whips his head around and is rewarded with a sight that will surely haunt his dreams for days. Standing there frozen was the same red-head from earlier. Shirtless. Aomine makes sure to get a good look, filing away the image for later.

"So, we meet again, Tiger," he says, finally dragging his eyes away from the mans' shirtless chest to meet his eyes. He takes a step forward, making a show of looking the red-head up and down. "I've got to say, as much as I loved our last encounter, I'm lovin' this one a whole lot more." He licks his lips, slowly dragging his eyes down the toned chest once more. When he looks up into brick-red eyes once more, he gives a cheeky wink.

Momoi, who obviously put together that this was the same man from Aomine's story, gives Aomine a slap to the chest and exclaims, "Dai-chan!"

Aomine jumps and turns away Kagami, glaring down at Momoi. "Oi! What the hell, Satsuki? That hurt!" To emphasize his point, he brings a hand up and rubs at his abused chest.

"You should introduce me to your friend," she responds simply.

Aomine, not at all happy that she's here, grabs her arm and pulls her closer to himself. "Satsuki, go in the room," he whispers.

She pulls back and puffs out her cheeks, clearly annoyed. She grabs the front of his shirt and pulls him down to her level. "No way, Dai-chan. I want to meet him," she whispers back.

"Satsuki, I'm serious."

"So am I."

Before Aomine can respond, he hears the sound of a door closing. Both he and Momoi look up and see that Kagami had retreated back to the safety of his room.

"Look what you did," Aomine accuses, glaring down at his friend.

"Me?" Momoi exclaims. "It was your fault. I was just trying to be polite!"

"Yeah, right," Aomine scoffs, opening the door to their room.

Behind him, Momoi rolls her eyes, choosing not to continue their pointless argument. Opting instead to changes the subject she says, "I know you said he was hot, but damn. I never imagined he'd be that attractive."

Aomine, throwing himself down on his bed, grunts in response. His lack of response has Momoi giggling as she settles into her own bed. She knew that was Aomine's way of saying 'Told ya so'.

Aomine doesn't have any trouble falling to sleep this time. Not when there's a chance he'll dream of a certain shirtless red-head.

As the memory fades, Aomine opens his eyes and blinks a few times to focus. The first thing that he notices is that the T.V. has been paused. He looks over to check if Momoi is still there, and is surprised to see her staring at him with a huge smile on her face.

"Anyone in particular that you're thinking of?" She asks knowingly.

"Leave me alone," he says, closing his eyes again.

"When are you and Kagamin playing one-on-one?" She asks, completely ignoring him.

Sighing, Aomine says, "Don't know. Haven't discussed it."

Gasping in horror Momoi scolds, "Dai-chan, you should have texted him as soon as you got home."

"Why?"

"You just should have! Text him. Right now!"

"Why?"

"Dai-chan," she warns. "Do it."

"But he had plans for tonight. I don't want to bother him. Can't I just text him later?"

"No, you'll text him now."

"But…."

"Now, Dai-chan. If he's busy, he can just text back later."

Aomine wants to argue, but what Momoi said makes sense. He thinks on it a moment longer before sighing and pulling out his phone, sending out a quick message.

One-on-one, next Saturday?

With that being done, Aomine jumps off the couch and announces, "I'm going to take a quick shower. Don't eat all my food."

"No promises," comes the mumbled response before the T.V. start playing again.

Once he's in his room he throws his phone on the bed and quickly strips, tossing the clothes into the hamper before walking to the connected bathroom. He makes quick work of his shower, wanting to finish so he can eat and hopefully sleep. If he can get Momoi to leave, that is. Turning the water off, he reaches out and grabs the towel from the rack and pats himself dry, wrapping the towel around his waist once he's done. Making his way back to his room, he rummages through his dresses, pulling out a pair of boxers and some sweats. He dresses quickly, using the towel from around his waist to dry his hair. On his way back to the living room, he tosses the towel in the same hamper as his clothes. He's at the door when he hears his phone go off. He considers ignoring it, but remembers the last person that he messaged and decides not to. Picking up his phone, he's definitely glad he chose not to ignore it. His favorite red-head had responded.

Name the time and place, I'll be there.

He reads the message a few times, smile widening each time. He quickly sends out the time and location. It doesn't take long before he's getting a response, agreeing to the meet-up time and location. He throws his phone back down and rushes to the living room.

"Next Saturday," is all he says.

Momoi being who she is, immediately understands. "Dai-chan, that's great! I'm so excited!"

"Why the hell are you excited? You aren't going." He's prepared to do everything in his power to convince her to stay home, not willing to let her interrupt his game, but it turns out that he doesn't have to.

"Of course I'm not! But you're going to tell me all about it Saturday night!"

Laughing, Aomine doesn't even think to argue with her. He's actually grateful. He knows he'd want to tell her everything, but bringing it up on his own would be impossible. It's much better if she thinks she's having to force him to talk. It's more work for her that way. For the moment, Aomine forgets all about food and sleep. Right now, he wants to sit next to Momoi and pretend that he's not listening to all the advice she's spewing at him. As he does this, he can only think one thing- Is it next Saturday yet?

Chapter 2

Notes:

Chapter Text

Aomine had been distracted all week, anticipating his one-on-one with Kagami. He'd been spacing out during practice, to the amusement of Momoi and the team. They had been laughing and poking fun at him all week. Aomine still can't believe that Momoi had told his players about his little (big) crush on and his upcoming game (date? Is it a date?)….actually, now that he thinks about, he can totally believe it. Hell, he should have seen it coming. That's exactly the type of thing that Momoi would do.

The first day of practice had started off fine. The guys had just teased him a bit, but stopped once practice had started. Then he just had to go and mess everything up. Although, he completely blames Momoi, she had to have planned everything. He doesn't know how or why she did it, but he knows she did.

Practice had been going well, Aomine could see the improvement the players had made so far that year and was pleased. He told the players that they should come up with unique ways of scoring, for the times when the conventional methods just wouldn't work. To help them better understand, he decided to demonstrate with one of his famous formless shots. He was getting ready to release the ball when he heard Momoi say something about 'Kagamin'. Distracted, he released to early and the barley barely grazed the bottom of the net. He watches in shock as the ball roll and come to a stop as it hits the wall. Soft laughter makes him snap his head to the bench where he sees Momoi and his players trying to keep their laughter in. Eventually though, as his cheeks heat up, the all collapse into laughter. Some of the guys even fall to their knees, hand uselessly in front of their mouth. Momoi uses both hands to cover her mouth, but Aomine can see the amusement in her eyes. Aomine clears his throat and scratches the back of his head sheepishly, feeling his cheeks heat up even more.

One of the more outgoing players, Chuuya, finally gets ahold of himself and looks up at Aomine with a smirk. "Wow, Coach," he says, "I bet you'll really impress the guy with skills like that." Everyone starts up laughing again, having a great time teasing their coach.

Despite the blush on his face, Aomine scowls and says, "What was that? You want to run lap the rest of practice? Hmm, well, since you asked o-so nicely….." He takes great pleasure when he sees the smirk on Chuuya's face be replaced by a look of horror.

"Dai-chan," Momoi interrupts, finally able to calm herself down, "You can't make them run the rest of practice! There's still two hours left!"

"I know," he says enthusiastically, laughing loudly when the rest of his players immediately stops laughing and stands up straight.

"Dai-chan," Momoi scolds.

Chuuya, seemingly over the horror of possibly running for the next two hours says, "I wouldn't be too happy if I were you, Coach. I doubt this 'Kagamin' will like you all that much if he finds out that you'd rather punish us than actually coach us."

"Yeah? Well how the hell is he going to find out," Aomine asks, smug.

"We tell him, of course," answers Chuuya.

Meanwhile, Momoi and the rest of the players sigh and sit down. When Aomine and Chuuya start, there's no stopping them. They once spent an entire practice going back and forth. And then continued later that night on the team chat.

"You don't even know him," Aomine exclaims, trying not to get riled up like Chuuya wants. It's just so damn hard not to! Chuuya reminds him a lot of a certain blonde ex-teammate of his. The two may look completely different, but they both give off that- 'I may be pretty, and look dainty, but I can kick your ass- vibe. That, and they both annoy the shit out of Aomine and get on his nerves like it's their job.

"As tragic as that is, you're right," Chuuya says dramatically. "But," he continues, "With what Momoi has told us, I'm sure I'd be able to find him with minimal effort."

Aomine, having no doubt that Chuuya could and would look for Kagami, and knowing that he probably could find him, doesn't know what to say to that. Damn that bastard. Chuuya, knowing that he's won for now, looks incredibly pleased with himself. Aomine lets him be, figuring that'll be the end of it.

Oh, how wrong he was. He should have known better, really, he should have. He can see, by Chuuya's smirk growing, that he's not going to like what his player has to say.

"Aw. Don't look so defeated, Coach. Things could work out for you. Maybe this 'Kagamin' prefers a little punishment every now and then," Chuuya says suggestively. "I personally know a lot of guys who are into that."

The rest of the team and Momoi start cracking up again. Sure, their little arguments take time away from practice, but they're usually hilarious. Aomine had to close his eyes and take deep breaths, reminding himself that he loves his job. No, Daiki, it's not acceptable to strangle your player. Resist. After repeating that to himself a few times, he opens his eyes. That was pretty funny, though. Got to give him that. Aomine smiles a bit, trying not to laugh.

Sighing heavily, Aomine announces, "Alright then, no one is going to be able to focus on practice now, thank you, Chuuya. So, I'll go ahead and call practice today. But be ready for a real ass-kicking tomorrow."

The team cheers and pat Chuuya on the back. Chuuya smiles and gives Aomine a wink before exiting the gym with the rest of the team.

That bastard! He planned this! I should call him back in here and make him run by himself for the next two hours.

"Now, now, Dai-chan. You can't go back on your word," Momoi informs him softly, coming to stand next to him, looping her arm through his.

"Fine," he says dejectedly, shoulders slumping. They leave the gym, making sure to lock everything up on their way out.

They walk in peace for a bit, but Aomine lets out a heavy sigh, causing Momoi to tilt her head up to look at him.

"Everything alright, Dai-chan?" she asks. When Aomine's face twists up like he's in pain, she grows concerned and rushes to reassure him. "You know Chuuya-kun was just messing around, right, Dai-chan? About everything. He's not really going to hunt down Kagamin." She corrects herself after a slight pause. "Well, he might actually, but only to make sure that Kagamin is good enough for you. He really looks up to you."

At this, Aomine's face twists up even more. "I know," he mutters. "That's the problem."

"Uhh, I'm not really following, Dai-chan."

"Going back and forth with him, it.. he…it's just that.." heaving another sigh, Aomine takes the hand of his free arm, the one not held captive by one of Momoi's, and rubs at his face and mumbles, "He reminds me a lot of Kise, you know?" He drops his hand and glares. "It makes me miss the stupid, blonde bastard," he finally gets out, looking like it physically pained him to do so.

Momoi looks up at him, eyes wide with surprise. Slowly, a grin makes its way onto her face. "Dai-chan, we saw him, like, a little over a week ago."

"Yeah, I know. But still," Aomine responds. Momoi swears she sees him pouting a little.

"Ahhh, Dai-chan, that's so cute! I bet Ki-chan will be thrilled to know that you actually enjoy his company, and miss him when he's not around!"

Aomine immediately snaps his head down towards her and hisses, "You can't tell him. He'll never leave me alone if you do."

"But, Dai-chan," she teases, "Isn't that what you want?"

Groaning, Aomine looks forward. "You're never going to let me alone about this, are you?"

"Hmmm," she pretends to think. "Not likely." Aomine can't help but groan again, before going silent. He's trying to act upset, but Momoi still catches the slight upturn of his lips. Oh yeas, she's definitely not letting him forget about this. Ever.

That had just been the first day of practice since Aomine had run into Kagami and scheduled their one-on-one. If he thought it was going to get better, he thought wrong. Momoi and Chuuya, especially Chuuya, had been teasing him the whole week. Even when they weren't at practice, Chuuya would send teasing comments through the team chat. Eventually, the rest of the team, following Chuuya's lead, started teasing him as well. There was no escape.

Now, it was Friday afternoon and, because they had won their scrimmage match the day before, Aomine was giving the team the day off. They were all immensely grateful. Perhaps that's why they seemed to lay off on the teasing a bit. Not that Aomine was complaining. Well, he was complaining a little. Now that he didn't have practice, all he had to so was think about his game with Kagami tomorrow. Which did him little good. All it succeeded in doing was working up his nerves.

Kagami had mentioned that he's been playing basketball for a while, but he never mentioned how good he was. And that alone worries him. Aomine doesn't believe in going easy or playing half-assed. He feels like that's an insult to who he's playing. But Aomine also knows, without trying to stoke his ego, that he's incredibly good at basketball. So good that a lot are intimidated by him. Of course, Aomine's not going to care if Kagami is actually good or not; that's not what he's worried about. He worried about how Kagami is going to react to him. He's been called a 'monster' many times, and not as a compliment. He doesn't want to come off as someone who thinks he's better than everyone else, he did enough of that shit in high school.

Aomine groans loudly from his spot on the couch, angry at himself for overthinking things. Momoi enters through his front door right as groans, and looks up from her phone in concern.

"Everything alright, Dai-chan?"

"Yeah," he sighs dramatically. "Just thinking too much. It hurts my head."

"That's because your brain isn't use to thinking," she says, giggling.

"Screw off," Aomine responds, voice muffled now that he's flipped on his front and has his face buried in the couch cushions.

"That's not very nice, Dai-chan. Especially when I came all the way over just to get you out of the house and help take your mind off things."

Lifting his head, Aomine narrows his eyes at her in suspicion. "What are you talking about?"

Grinning widely, Momoi exclaims, "Shopping!"

"No," Aomine says shortly, burying his face back in the cushions.

"Come on, Dai-chan. It's not like you have anything better to do."

Aomine considers arguing more, but he knows he'll give in eventually and he's not really all that opposed to the idea. It definitely would give me something else to think about. Huffing, Aomine sits up and mumbles out, "fine," before quickly making his way to his room to grab his wallet. When he makes it back to the living room he sees Momoi leaning against the bar smiling brightly. He scoffs as he bends down to put his shoes on, acting like he's upset about being forced to go with her. Neither of them are fooled, they both know it's just for show.

Once he's done putting his shoes on, Momoi pushes off the bar and skips to the door.

"I'll drive," she announces.

"I sure as hell wasn't going to," Aomine remarks as he shuts and locks his front door. Momoi doesn't say anything in response, just smiles and loops her arm through his.

Later that night, after hours of carrying around Momoi's bags, Aomine lays in bed and silently thanks his best-friend for distracting him all day. Because now that he's alone with nothing to do, he might be freaking out. Just a little. He doesn't even know why he's so nervous, he's gone on plenty of dates before. Hell, he wasn't even sure if he could consider this game a date. Great, now I'm worried about that, too. He briefly considers sending Momoi a message, asking for her opinion on the matter, but quickly dismisses the thought. He's told her enough embarrassing things this week, like how he misses Kise.

Kise! I can ask him! Aomine hastily reaches for his phone that's charging on the bed side table. Of course, he can ask Kise. Kise is great with all things dating and relationships and despite what most people might think, Kise doesn't push for more information. Well, he might, but it's always jokingly. If he knows Aomine really doesn't want to give details, he'll respect 's pretty great like that, Aomine thinks as he sends the blonde a quick message.

Is a game of one-on-one considered a date?

Short and to the point, Aomine doesn't have time to mess around. Kise, almost always being on his phone, replies almost immediately.

Well, hello to you, too, Aominechii! =)

Yeah, hi. So is it? Patience has never really been Aomine's strong point. It can be, if necessary, but Aomine hardly ever deems it so.

So mean, Aominechii! =(

Aomine's about to respond, telling Kise to answer the damn question, but Kise beats him to it.

But, to answer your question, I'm not sure. You and I go one-on-one all the time, but I'm a taken man, Aominechii! So those can't be dates! ;) I mean, your attractive and all, but heart belongs to another 3

Kise. At first, that's all he sends, but then he figures if he wants an answer, he should give Kise a bit more to work with.

Is it a date if I…kind of.. like the guy?

Well, well. Does Aominechii have a crush? Tell me, tell me!

No.

Fine. Rude. But back to your question, does this mystery man like you?

Uhh….. yes? Aomine's not entirely sure about that, but going by Kagami's reactions to Aomine when he had him pinned to the hotel wall…Aomine's willing to bet Kagami is at least a little bit interested in him.

Uh, you seem a bit unsure?

Yes. He does.

Good! Then I guess it depends on how you asked him!

What?

Aominechii! Asking someone to play one-on-one casually doesn't really give off 'date' vibes!

Uh-huh.

So?

So?

Did you ask him casually or not, Aominechii? =/

Uh. Not really, no. Aomine thinks back to when he first challenged Kagami to a one-on-one. He had pinned to the wall and was seconds away from kissing him. Deciding to correct himself, he quickly types out another message.

No. There was definitely nothing casual about it.

Ooooo, Aominechii, naughty boy! ;)

KISE!

Haha! Sorry Aominechii! To answer your question, it really depends. Do you want it to be a date? Does he?

I wouldn't be asking if I knew that, moron!

Oh. Well, then I don't think I can help much, Aominechii. Just pay attention to how he acts and go off that!

That is actually the worst advice you've ever given me.

Rude, Aominechii, rude! Here I was, trying to help a friend in need.

Aomine smiled and sent a quick 'goodnight, Kise', before setting his phone back down and closing his eyes. He tried not to think of tomorrow too much, knowing he wouldn't get any sleep if he did that. But he couldn't help but think that he would like for tomorrow to be a date. And that he hopes Kagami wants that, too.


	3. Chapter 3

for academic purposes only Mozanii Summary: Top basketball star at Seirin High, Aomine Daiki, is great at basketball, but terrible at math. In order not to be kicked off the team, he gets signed up tutoring lessons taught by none other than this firery-haired, split eyebrow math genius, Kagami Taiga.

Chapter 1: lesson one: triangles Chapter Text

If Aomine felt like being lectured about keeping his grades up, he would have just showed his mother his report card despite the great lengths he goes to avoid bringing up the subject. But yet, here he stands, being lectured, quite aggressively he might add, by the captain of the basketball team.

"Aomine, what the hell? How can you get these kinds of grades and still expect to be a member of the basketball team? Anysports team, really? Are you dumb? Are you dense? Do you just not care!?" Hyuuga's glasses were practically cracked from the volume of his speech to the uncaring boy.

Aomine shrugged lazily and sighed, "I don't see the big deal! If I'm scoring baskets, then who cares?"

A vein popped in Hyuga's neck, "The school cares, Aomine! School first, extracurriculars second! This is obvious information, I shouldn't have to tell you this! The team manager is close to kicking you off the team if you don't get better grades."

Aomine shifted his gaze and sucked his teeth in irritation, "That's not my order! Geez, stop nagging me, I'll do better. Promise."

Hyuga frowned, "I don't trust your empty promises, Aomine…"

"But I -" Aomine was interrupted by Hyuga continuing to talk.

"But, I made a deal with the manager. I told him that if you went to tutoring at least three times a week for your lowest grade, that you could still continue to be on the team. Not like you come to practices anyways, so you can go there after school instead." He explained.

"Huh!? Tutoring!? This is unfair...I get enough school during the day and now you want me to do extra school? This shit blows…" Aomine complained once more.

At this point, Hyuga probably already popped a blood vessel talking to his underclassman. Losing patience, Hyuga grabbed Aomine's ear and pulled downwards abruptly, causing Aomine's whole upper body to tip forward toward the ground. "Listen here you ungrateful little boy, my ass is on the line as much as yours for not watching over your grades. I did you a favor so you are going to tutoring and you are going to get better grades. It's not a choice scenario, it's a demand and you're going to follow, got it?" He said through gritted teeth, pulling Aomine's ear even tighter than before.

"Okay, okay! I got it, I'll go! Let me go!"

/

The next day, Aomine groaned as the last bell for class dismissal rung in his ears. Aomine quickly threw his books in his bag to run home before anybody could see him, but as soon as he opened the classroom door, Hyuga was standing outside with his arms folded.

"Geez, Aomine, you sure look eager to get to tutoring with the way you're running out of the room." Hyuga said with a straight face.

"Hyuga, what the hell? Are you stalking me to make sure I actually go? What happened to our inter-teammate trust? Our bonds?" Aomine faked a frown in hopes of earning sympathy points.

Alas, to no avail, Hyuga's eyebrows furrowed in irritation. "I was right not to trust you! I'm surprised you were even in class! Anyway, take your ass to the library. You have a 3:15 private one-on-one appointment with the math tutor."

Aomine groaned once more, "Fine, fine. I'll go to this dumb thing three times a week and stare at this nerd's face for a whole hour.." He turned on his heels and headed in the direction of the library. A part of him wanted to turn around and check to see if Hyuga was following him through the hallways, but the other part of him wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

After a few minutes, Aomine finally arrived at the library, quietly opening the doors and peering inside. He saw a few students at the shelves browsing leisurely at the selection of books the school had, but he saw only one student sitting at the nearby tables, so he walked over and sat down immediately in the front of the man.

Pulling his bag off his shoulder, Aomine greeted his could-be tutor, "Yo. You the tutor?" Aomine examined the person in front of him, including his overly-large frame, his uniquely-shaped eyebrows, and his bright, fiery red hair with eyes to match. It wasn't the exact stereotypical image he had in his mind of what a tutor would look like, but he wasn't complaining. In fact, Aomine thought he was considerably attractive and thought he could get used to the close contact tutoring he was signed up for.

The red-haired man immediately stopped writing his assignment and looked up at Aomine, "Yo? Is that how you greet your teachers?"

Aomine frowned, "But you're not a teacher. You're a student, just like me. Therefore, yo."

The rude response made him frown even deeper than Aomine, "Nice to meet you too." He said sarcastically.

"I'm Aomine Daiki. So, let's get to it. Let's learn some math!"

"I know who you are. You're the oh-so great athlete, Aomine Daiki. Everyone around school knows who you are." The frown never left his face.

"So, what's your name? I can't call you tutor forever." Aomine asked.

"Kagami. Kagami Taiga. What do you need help with? I heard you were taking trigonometry from your captain."

"All of it." Aomine answered honestly.

"All of it, really!?" Kagami replied exasperatedly.

Aomine nodded, "Yes, start from square one. I haven't been paying attention."

Kagami sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation, "Alright, so square one. Do you know what a triangle is?"

This prompted a light chuckle from Aomine, "It's the thing with the three sides. I know that much."

"You just called it a "thing" and not a shape though…"

"You get the idea!"

Kagami handed him a piece of paper and a pencil, "Here, draw one."

"Seriously, Kagami? What am I in like kindergarden?" Aomine frowned.

"I'm just following directions, you said square one!" Kagami replied casually.

Aomine quickly drew the shape on the paper and handed it back to Kagami, who quickly began to scribble down a series of formulas and labels on his triangle. With all the equations, symbols, and variables being written down at such lightning speeds, Aomine thought he was writing in hieroglyphics.

Aomine's jaw dropped, "Wow, you really know your stuff, Kagami. That's impressive and surprising."

Kagami glanced up from his paper, "I am your tutor so I should know my stuff, but why is it surprising?"

Aomine blinked, "Well, I don't know. You just don't look like the type to you know...study. You're more of the athletic type type to me."

Kagami frowned, "Well sorry I don't fit your stereotypical image! It's possible to be good at both sports and academics! You don't have to choose one or the other! If you realized this sooner and put as much time into studying as you do in sports, then you wouldn't need my help, idiot."

Aomine gasped, "Are you allowed to call me an idiot!?"

"I can if you say dumb things like that!"

Aomine laughed at how fired up Kagami got at his remarks, "Alright, alright, my bad. Let's get back to the lesson. The sooner we finish, the sooner I can go home."

In the hour that the lesson continued, Aomine felt like he experienced a whole another day of school with how much information Kagami packed into his lessons. Although he complained, Aomine had to admit that he was actually a really great, patient teacher. Although he was strict with his lessons, Aomine could tell there was an underlying passion beneath his words and that he truly wanted Aomine to understand his explanations.

Feeling a pair of eyes staring at him and not at the paper, Kagami glanced up, "Aomine, are you listening to me? Are you confused or something?"

"Nah, I'm just...I'm just getting burned out. Can we continue this another day?" Aomine asked.

"Um, sure. I understand, I could go on for hours about this type of thing. But we can continue this whenever you want." Kagami said, standing up and packing his papers back into his bag.

"Sure, we can do this again tomorrow if you're free. Thanks a lot, though. I really appreciate it. I know you're probably busy with doing your own work, but you found time in your day to help me with mine." Aomine admitted honestly, prompting Kagami turn around and look at him.

Kagami's eyes widened at Aomine's words, "Did I really help you out that much, Aomine?" The navy-haired boy nodded, prompting a smile from Kagami, "Thank you, that makes me so happy to know that."

Aomine fidgeted in his pockets and finally pulled out his phone, handing it to Kagami.

"What's this for?" Kagami blinked.

"Your number! If you're my tutor, I should be able to call you if I have questions, right?" Aomine gave him a bright smile in return, causing a light blush to form on Kagami's cheeks.

"Uh...yeah...sure." Kagami stuttered out from his increasingly blushing face. "For academic purposes only, right?"

Aomine smirked, "Yeah, for academics only."

Chapter 2: lesson two: real life application

Summary: kagami takes aomine to the gym to put math equations into real life applications

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Okay everyone, pass your homework forward. We are going to see how well you guys understood the homework by doing some drills this morning." The teacher said, nonchalantly drawing a sample problem on the board.

"Here you go, teacher." A student at the front of the classroom called, extending his arms with the papers in hand. She walked over and took the papers from him, flipping through the names on the papers to see who actually did the assignment, but paused when she reached Aomine's paper.

"Aomine...is this your homework?" The teacher asked the half-dazed boy in the back of the classroom.

"Yeah, it has my name on it right?" Aomine answered half-conscious from his daily nap in math class.

"You haven't done a single assignment all quarter and suddenly you do one and it's complete? I don't believe it, come to the front and finish the problem on the board." The teacher demanded.

Although he was slightly offended, Aomine dragged his dead body from his desk to the front of the classroom, ignoring the whispers from his classmates along the way. When he walked up to the whiteboard, he stared at the problem for a few second before picking up a dry-erase marker from the nearby ledge. Aomine glanced at the teacher's astounded face once more before he wrote a series of equations in a matter of minutes, before boxing his final answer on the board, "X is equal to 15 feet."

The teacher's eyes went wide, staring at the navy-haired boy in amazement, "That's actually...correct! Aomine, why don't you do your homework everyday if you can do this? Where did you learn this?"

Aomine lazily shrugged and didn't answer her slightly condescending question, "Can I sit down now?"

/

"Is that seriously the first homework assignment you've done all year, Aomine?" Kagami looked at his student incredulously.

Aomine sighed and frowned, "Hey, I don't need any more judgement from you, Kagami. She already put me down in the front of the whole class! Besides, don't pick out parts from my story!"

"Yeah, she is kind of a bitch." Kagami chuckled to himself, causing Aomine's mouth to drop.

"Did you really just curse in front of me? And about a teacher?" He asked, amazed.

Kagami raised an eyebrow, "What? Just because I do well in her class that I can't have an opinion on her?"

It was Aomine's turn to laugh, "Two weeks of tutoring and you're already that comfortable around me, eh?"

"Has it really been two weeks already?"

Aomine smirked at Kagami, "What? Tired of me already?"

Kagami laughed lightly, "Nah, not yet. I'll give you a couple more days before I get tired of you."

Aomine couldn't help but smile at the redheaded boy, "You're crushing my heart here, Kagami!"

"What's going to crush your heart is yourself when you have to repeat the grade for not passing this class! Now finish the problem I wrote down…" Kagami said, trying to get back on task.

Aomine whined loudly, "But Kagamiiiiii~ I just don't get it! I'm not good with variables and formulas and shit like that."

"But you've been doing "shit like this" so far! It's the same concept, just with a different formula. It's angles, sines, and cosines."

Aomine frowned, slamming his pencil back onto the table, "You say "cosines" as if it's a real word!"

"It is a real word! Just because you don't know it doesn't mean it doesn't exist."

"That's exactly what it means! I just wish like...you know...you could apply it in real life? You get what I'm saying?" Aomine crossed his arms, leaning back from the table.

Kagami paused for a moment, tapping on the table deep in thought, "Aomine, did you bring your basketball with you?"

Aomine almost scoffs at the question, "Is that a real question? I don't leave home without it!"

"Come with me!" Kagami said suddenly, standing up from the table and tearing off pieces of paper from his notebook. He quickly stuffed the paper into his pockets and headed out the library in a hurry, leaving a confused Aomine following behind him.

After walking down a few hallways, Kagami peered into the windows of the gym, checking to see if anybody was there before stepping inside. Luckily, practice was over for the day, so he stepped in and clicked the lights to the empty gymnasium, illuminating the newly-polished hardwood floors and the basketball hoops that hung from the ceiling.

"What are we doing here?" Aomine asked curiously.

"Here's your real-world application, Aomine. It's basketball! Any ball really..." Kagami gave him a light smile, throwing the basketball in his direction.

As if it was second nature, Aomine caught the ball without looking and began mindlessly dribbling it on the court, "I don't get it."

Kagami took Aomine's wrist and pulled him towards the half-court line, "Stand here." He instructed and Aomine followed. "How far are you away from the hoop at half court?"

"47 feet." Aomine responds with almost no hesitation.

"How tall is the basketball hoop and what is your height?"

Aomine's puzzled look remained on his face, "10 feet and I'm 6'2."

Kagami paused for a moment before continuing, "Okay, so if you are 6'2", that's about 6.17 feet right?" Aomine nodded, making Kagami dig a piece of paper out of his pocket, drawing the situation for visual reference.

"If the hoop is 10 feet tall and you are 6.17 feet tall, the difference between the two is about 6.8 feet. You are standing 47 feet back from the hoop, therefore, you are able to calculation the angle at which to shoot the ball." Kagami explained, drawing diagrams on the paper.

"We are about the same height, so here, watch." Kagami grabbed the ball from Aomine's hands, dribbling it for a moment before positioning his arms into a shooting position. "My arms are at the angle I wrote on the paper, so watch." Kagami pushed the ball forward, shooting it from the half-court line and watched it sink into the opposing basket, causing Aomine's mouth to drop.

"See, every sport has a math or science-related concept behind it. Although I'm sure you're not thinking of theories when you play, maybe it would help when you study if you imagine something you're interested in." Kagami smiled at him, but Aomine didn't know why it made his heart skip a beat.

"I get what you're saying, but I don't need formulas and theories...I have a formless shot." Aomine beamed proudly.

"What the hell is a "formless shot"?" Kagami questioned.

"Watch me." Aomine said, contorting his body in some strange way, but still shooting and making the basket, leaving Kagami's mouth agape.

"Impressive right?" Aomine gave his signature smirk, causing Kagami to roll his eyes.

"Just a little bit." Kagami admitted.

"Only a little? Guess I have to try harder to impress you, then." Aomine stepped towards Kagami.

"If I'm not mistaken, I'd think that you were flirting with me, Aomine Daiki."

"Just a little bit." Aomine gave Kagami a quick wink before turning around and shooting another basket. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, Kagami was glad Aomine turned around so he didn't have to see the blush that formed on his cheeks.

/

After about an hour of shooting baskets in the name of mathematics, Kagami and Aomine began packing up their belongings to head home.

"You know, for a math nerd, you shoot pretty well." Aomine said, attempting to compliment the redhead.

Kagami scoffs at him, "Is that your version of a compliment? If so, it needs some work."

Aomine laughs softly, "I'm just joking around. Besides, you've really been helping me a lot. It's crazy to think that nobody could think I could do it...but I really do think my grades have improved and I'm understanding it better."

"Well, that's what I'm here for...but I'm glad I could be of some help." Kagami started, shooting an honest mile in his direction. "Alright Aomine, today was a nice change of pace. I hope you learned a lot, so I'll see you on Wednesday." Kagami said, packing the last of his things and slinging his bag on his shoulder.

"You know…" Aomine trailed off, causing Kagami to look up at him in confusion.

"What?"

"We don't technically have to see each other three times a week, only. It's not like we don't go to the same school, so you could meet up with me anytime." Aomine admitted somewhat shyly, avoiding eye contact with Kagami, but could still feel Kagami's gaze at his words.

"...I know you get paid to see me three times a week, but we're friends, right? Drop by after classes end...eat lunch together...meet up in the mornings before class starts...That's what friends do..." Aomine continued.

"Sure...I guess I can do that." Kagami stuttered out, still somewhat flustered by Aomine's questions.

"You don't have to make it sound like you're forcing yourself." Aomine frowned, "It's okay if you don't want to, I was just suggesting -"

"I want to." Kagami interrupted him, "You just took me by surprise, that's all. You're full of surprises."

"How so?"

Kagami paused, "Well for one, when Hyuuga approached me asking me to tutor the star of the basketball team, I honestly laughed in his face."

Offended, Aomine frowned, "Hey, that's -!"

"-To be honest, I didn't want to do it because I thought you wouldn't take it seriously. I thought you would show up for the first few days, then decide you didn't care anymore. But you've proved me wrong and I want to apologize for judging you based on typical athlete stereotypes." Kagami admitted honestly, looking down at the floor before looking back up when he heard laughter.

"Kagami, for a smart person, you sure are an idiot!" Aomine continued laughing, causing Kagami to become flustered.

"What are you calling me names for!?" Kagami questioned angrily.

"What kind of person apologizes for their own thoughts? I didn't even know you thought that about me!" Aomine continued to laugh.

"It's not funny….and I feel bad for doing it." Kagami furrowed his eyebrows. "I'm truly happy that you're putting effort into learning this and improving your grades."

"I can only do that because I just have the most amaaaaaazing tutor." Aomine teased, causing Kagami's eyebrows to scrunch together even further. "Besides, I hope that one day, you'll be able to look at me and say that you're proud of me and what I've accomplished. That's all I want."

Kagami's eyes widened once more, "Why me specifically?"

"It's simple, Kagami." Aomine stated before heading towards the gymnasium door. He paused in his footsteps, taking a moment to look back at Kagami and smiled.

"It's because I admire you. See you tomorrow, as you promised." Aomine turned on his heels and walked out of the door, leaving a blushing Kagami alone in the room.

"Idiot, it's me who should be admiring you…." Kagami muttered under his breath before shortly following Aomine out the door, already waiting for the next moment to see him tomorrow.

Notes: can you BELIEVE i had to look up these heights and distances...making me look like I actually watch sports lmaooo  
im bad at updating this and my other stories so...sorry T^T; the chapter titles don't actually following the number of lessons Aomine has taken...it's just like...lessons instead of chapters? does that make sense? if it doesn't just ignore it lmao

Chapter 3: lesson 3: lets eat lunch together

Summary: Kuroko gets a little invasive with his questioning~

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

When Aomine received a message from Kagami early the next morning, he nearly jumped out of his skin with excitement. Although it was just a simple, 'Lunch 12 in the cafeteria? I sit in the back near the vending machines, by the way.', he couldn't help but feel a bit giddy that Kagami actually came through on his promises to him yesterday.

While he was in class, Aomine anxiously tapped his nails against the desk in anticipation for noon to strike the clock. 'Only five more minutes….', he thought in his head. Instead of relaxing, he only continued to plan out potential greetings and conversations he would have when he would see Kagami in the cafeteria. Maybe, he thought, it would just just flow naturally and he would go with that.

When the bell rung for the lunch break, Aomine immediately jumped out his seat and headed towards the cafeteria, eagerly awaiting his lunch date with Kagami. Was it even a date? Oh well, that's what he called it in his head to make himself feel better, while at the same time, boosting his ego.

He quickly barged into the cafeteria, grabbing a random tray from the counter and scouted the vending machines in the back of the cafeteria. Aomine quickly sidestepped around the other chatting students until he found his way to the back table. However, when his eyes landed on another student sitting at the table, his eyebrows instantly furrowed and a scowl formed on his face.

Aomine walked over and slammed his tray down on the table, prompting the other boy to look up from his book with a confused look on his face. "Hey you! Piss off, would ya?" He growled.

The light-haired boy's expression remained blank, "What do you mean?"

"I'm using this table to meet a friend of mine, so you need to scoot on over to a different place, okay?" Aomine frowned.

"But, I was here first. Besides, this is where I meet my friend too." His expression remained stoic, pissing Aomine off even more.

"Well meet your friend over there!" Aomine argued, but to no avail, the boy remained in his seat holding his hand in the book to save his place.

"I think I'll pass."

"Huh!?" Aomine gasped, getting angrier by the minute this boy was disobeying him.

"I said I'm not moving. Besides, here he comes now." He pointed, causing Aomine to turn around and immediately became shocked when he came face-to-face with Kagami.

"Hey Aomine, sorry I'm late, I got held up by a teacher. I see you met my friend Kuroko?" Kagami smiled at the two, setting his bag down on the nearby chair.

Face still unchanged, Kuroko sipped his drink, "Yeah, we just became acquainted."

"Oh really, what were you guys talking about?" Kagami said.

"Oh, Aomine-kun over here was just saying something about ordering me to move. Something like, "Piss off"? Something of that sort?" Kuroko side-eyed Aomine, who also received some angry glances from Kagami.

Almost immediately, Aomine could feel an intense cold sweat take over his body. Was it shame? Was it regret? How could you even tell the difference? "Listen Kuroko, ol' buddy ol' pal, I was just kidding, haha!" Aomine tried to play it off, but the two remained unconvinced.

Aomine frowned, "Alright, alright. No need for the scowls, I'm sorry we began on the wrong foot. Kuroko, was it?"

The light-haired boy nodded silently, eyes following Aomine as he sat down across from Kuroko and Kagami.

"I'm Aomine Daiki, in case you don't know that yet. I think we're all in the same grade here, so we should all get along. I also play basketball for Seirin!" Aomine smiled lightly at the two sitting across from him.

"It's nice to finally formally meet you. Kagami has told me all about you." Kuroko said, prompting a light blush to form on Kagami's cheeks.

"H-hey, don't word it like that. You make it sound weird." Kagami muttered.

A smirk formed on Aomine's lips, "Oh, he did? I hope it was good things at least. I'm probably not as bad as he made me seem," he teased.

"Well, I've never heard anything negative from him about you." Kuroko stated, causing Kagami turn and look at the smaller boy beside him.

"Geez, Kuroko! Can't you keep anything private? Stop saying embarrassing things." Kagami complained, eyeing Kuroko desperately.

"I'm just stating facts, Kagami." Kuroko responded before turning back to face Aomine, "So, Aomine. Do you have a girlfriend?"

Aomine watched as Kagami nearly spit and choked on his drink at Kuroko question, causing him to chuckle a bit at the scene. "Nah, I don't."

This seemed to perk Kuroko's interest, "So, do you like anyone?"

Kagami turned around completely red, "Kuroko, what kind of questions are these? This isn't something you just ask somebody you just met!"

"Yes it is. You know, when you meet somebody, you usually say your name, your occupation, and if you are married or have kids. Since I assume that Aomine-kun is not married or has kids, I asked the next related thing." Kuroko pointed out.

"That's not even the same type of situation!" Kagami complained further, causing Aomine to laugh at the two friends' back-and-forth banter.

"It's alright, Kagami. In fact, I would say that I do like somebody….A crush, at the very least." Aomine stated, causing the two to look back up at him.

"What is she like?" Kuroko asked, causing Kagami to stay quiet and listen to what Aomine was about to say.

"Well...for starters, they're in our grade. They're smart and kind….but most importantly, they're passionate and dedicated to what they do. It's really inspiring, actually. I hope that one day, if they choose to be by my side, that some of their passion and work ethic will rub off on me so that I too can be the same." Aomine smiled down at the table, refusing to make eye contact with the two staring at him from across the table.

"Wow, that was surprisingly eloquent of you, Aomine." Kuroko joked, smiling at Aomine.

"Surprising? What can I say? I'm crushing hard." Aomine said nonchalantly, stirring his drink with his straw with his finger. "Ah, I forgot ketchup. I'll be right back."

After Kagami watched Aomine walk away from the table, just about the right distance so that he couldn't hear their conversation, he turned to Kuroko with his face steaming. "Kuroko…"

"Kagami-kun, you should drink some water. You look like you're about to pass out." Kuroko said, handing him a spare water bottle.

"I feel like I'm about to pass out with your questions!" Kagami complained once more.

"What are you complaining about? Aomine practically confessed to you in front of your face, but yet you're still frowning…" Kuroko's raised an eyebrow.

"What makes you think he was talking about me!?" Kagami gasped.

"When I asked him what "she" was like, he responded with "they", which means it is highly likely it is a male he has a crush on due to his lack of pronoun, but yet, didn't want to confess to a stranger that he likes guys. Knowing how confident and cocky Aomine is with anything and everything in his life, he would have just told us the girl's name if it was so. Plus, he described you perfectly. It's very simple." Kuroko pointed out, causing Kagami's blush to deepen.

"Kuroko, you're assuming a lot!" Kagami leaned forward on the table, covering his face with his palms.

"I'm not assuming, I'm just saying what I see from an outside perspective. You should be happy since you like him too." Kuroko responded plainly. Before Kagami had a chance to denounce Kuroko's previous statement, Kuroko interrupted him once more, "-and don't even think about denying it. Your face is almost as red as your hair."

Kagami sighed deeply, hiding his face further in his hands. "I'm not denying it...it's just...I'm not good at this type of thing. You know...feelings and stuff…"

Kuroko side-eyed him, "Well don't look over here for advice."

"Thanks, Kuroko…" Kagami's words dripped sarcasm, but deep down, Kuroko wanted to believe that he really meant it.

Kuroko and Kagami looked up at the same time when a tall, familiar figure returned to their table and gave them a gleaming smile, "So, did I miss anything you guys?"

"Nothing at all, Aomine-kun."

/

"So, what I think is going on is….to get the angle, I have to divide the opposite length by the hypotenuse?" Aomine questioned, tapping his pencil against the paper.

After a few seconds, Kagami finally responded, "Hm….oh yeah, that's correct."

Aomine looked up from his paper, "Huh, Kagami? You seem a bit out of it today. Something wrong?"

"Me? Out of it? No way. I guess I'm just tired that's all." Kagami said, shutting his eyes.

"You sure? You can tell me anything that's on your mind." Aomine asked, not exactly believing what he was saying.

"It's just...Kuroko said some weird stuff at lunch and it's been on my mind all day."

"Weird stuff like what?" Aomine prodded him further, implying he wanted more details.

"Damn it, Aomine! Let me be vague if I want to!" Kagami frowned at the navy-haired boy next to him.

"Leave vague to magazines and tell me!" Aomine raised his voice despite being in the quiet library.

"It's Vogue and no way!" Kagami corrected him, raising his voice to match Aomine's level.

Aomine paused for a moment before continuing, "Is it about what I said about me having a crush on somebody in school?"

Kagami hesitated to answer, but eventually nodded and looked away from Aomine, '...He seems to think that the person you were describing was….me…."

"...And would that bother you if I said that what Kuroko thought was true?"

Kagami's eyes widened at his words, "Aomine…"

Aomine chuckled lightly, "Maybe I said too much."

"Aomine, I -" Kagami was soon interrupted by the school librarian's head poking around the corner, "Hey, you two. I don't mean to interrupt but the library is closing a little early today, so if you could clean up soon, that'd be great. Thanks!"

"Ah damn, I still had some more questions." Aomine mumbled to himself, throwing his notebooks into his bag and standing up from his chair.

"I'm sure you'll be fine for your test tomorrow, Aomine. You seem to understand it pretty well." Kagami said, also packing his stuff into his bookbag.

"I suppose." Aomine said, glancing over in Kagami's direction, watching his action silently.

Feeling eyes watching his every move, Kagami looked up from what he was doing, "Can I help you?"

"Nah, I was just thinking about something. See you tomorrow, I gotta catch my train." Aomine turned and walked out the door, leaving a slightly flustered Kagami behind to clean up what was left of their session.

"Damn it….what was I just about to say to him…" Kagami scolded himself out loud before following behind Aomine shortly afterwards.

/

Later that night, Aomine slammed his textbooks on the table and tore open his new pack of pencils. "Yes, I'm ready to ace this test now! I'm gonna study so hard I'll even surprise myself!" Aomine yelled to himself in his room. Somehow, yelling and expressing his emotions served as motivation for his own personal reasons.

After what seemed like days, but was really only two hours, Aomine found himself nodding off into his textbook. "So boring…." Aomine says to himself, flipping over the umpteenth page for more space to do sample problems. Aomine suddenly jolted awake from his daze when he heard his ringtone playing from his phone.

He walked over to his bed and turned his phone over to see the screen, eyes widening at the caller ID information displaying on the front. "Kagami!?" Aomine said, swiping the accept button and raising the phone to his ear.

"Uh, yeah. Hey, Aomine. How are you?" Kagami sounded nervous over the phone.

"Well, I was studying for this dumb test, but then you called me. Speaking of, I'm really, really surprised you actually called me. As in, you called me and not the other way around." Aomine laughed.

"Well yeah, before you left you said you still had some questions so I wanted to be sure that you were okay." Kagami answered honestly, causing Aomine to smile into the receiver.

"Aww, Kagami. Were you worried about me?"

Kagami could practically hear his smirk through the phone and it pissed him off, "Nevermind, I take it back! I knew I shouldn't have called!"

Aomine laughed a bit harder, "I'm just kidding, calm down! But yeah, I do have a few more questions."

"Alright, cool. I'll walk you through the steps over the phone so you'll just have to describe your thoughts to me and I'll tell you if you're right." Kagami reassured him.

After about two hours on the phone with Kagami, Aomine finally slammed his textbook shut. "Ahhh, I feel so good about this test now. Thanks so much, Kagami. You really didn't have to…"

Kagami relaxed onto his bed, laying his phone against his ear, "It's no problem, I don't mind really. I want you to do well on your exam tomorrow."

"You're telling me! This is the last exam before the final and it would push my grade up from a C to a B in that class!" Aomine exclaimed excitedly over the phone.

Kagami gasped, "Whoa, you pulled your grade up from an F to a C already, Aomine?"

Aomine laughed, "Of course! I have the best teacher after all! Putting in extra hours and everything…"

"It's not really extra, I just had extra time before I went to bed and I finished my homework earlier in school."

"You're such a nerd, Kagami! I swear!" Aomine joked, laughing loudly into the receiver even harder when he heard the redhead gasp on the other end.

"Whatever! If you don't have any more questions, I'm going to head to bed." Kagami rolled over onto his side, pinning the phone between his ear and shoulder.

"Wait, I do have a question!" Aomine said quickly.

"What is it?"

"You said you were in bed right?" Aomine asked once more.

"Yeah…..?" Kagami was starting to feel a bit skeptical at Aomine's questions.

"What are you wearing?" Aomine asked, smirking into the receiver even more when he heard Kagami's words scramble together over the phone.

"I'm hanging up!" Kagami yelled into the receiver before pressing the end button with rapid speed, ignoring the cackling on the other side of the phone.

He rolled onto his stomach, squishing his face into his pillow, "Stupid Aomine…." But if that was the way he truly he felt, then why was his heart beating so fast?

Notes: HI! Welcome to my third chapter...I really like this fic. Can I say that about my own fic that I wrote?  
Oh well! I felt this in my soul so this chapter is a lil longer compared to the others but WORTHHH.

Chapter 4: lesson 4: interlaced

Summary: Aomine takes his final exams!

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Okay everyone, please grab your tests on the way out. The scores were half-half, some were better than others." The teacher said, passing out the tests to students heading out the door. However, when Aomine stood in front of her, she looked up at him with a huge smile on her face. "I think you'll be especially pleased with this, Aomine. Your hard work with your tutor is paying off."

Aomine took a peek at his test, eyes immediately stretching open at the paper in his hands. "You're sure this is mine? For real?"

"Yes, you should be proud! It's your first A on an exam this whole year!" The teacher smiled at him.

"I can't believe it! This is incredible!" Aomine's cheeks started to turn pink from his excitement. Of course, Aomine's next thought was that he had to go tell Kagami.

"Yes, you finally pulled your grade up from an F to a B. I'm honestly surprised at how hard you've been working, Aomine. That tutor of yours must be one hell of a teacher. Not only do you get higher grades, but you come to class everyday anddo your homework? Since this is the final test for the year and all that's left is the final exam tomorrow, you should be set as long as you score at least a B on it."

"Yeah, I guess you could say Kagami has had a good influence on me." Aomine smiled at her.

"He has! In fact, I hope that you continue this behavior even though he has been reassigned to another student."

Aomine's heart nearly stopped, "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Oh, you didn't know? The conditions of tutoring you were under were that you were to continue to go to tutoring until I felt confident enough in your ability to continue to do well by yourself. With the way you have been progressing, I reassigned Kagami to another student that was deeply in need. Is that problematic?" The teacher questioned, looking to the student in front of her for an answer.

"...Thanks for looking after me." Aomine bowed politely, but his voice remained empty. He turned on his heels and left the classroom, his heart feeling heavier and heavier by the minute. 'I have to go find him….'

Aomine sprinted through the hallways, bumping into many students that stood by their lockers, leaving them angry and frustrated with his lack of apology. Sure, he was kind of sorry, but he had more pressing matters to address. He ran full speed to the one place he knew Kagami would be at any time of the day, the library.

He bust through the doors with full strength, running past the shocked librarian and to the table where he and Kagami usually sat. And there, unsurprisingly, was the redhead sitting by himself at the table.

"Kagami…" Aomine huffed, out of breath.

Kagami turned around at his name, "Aomine? What are you doing here? Your teacher didn't tell you? I'm not your -"

"I don't care what she says, Kagami." Aomine said between breaths, still gasping for air after running so long in his desperate search for him. "I don't care about the tutoring."

Kagami raised an eyebrow, "And so….you are here because….?"

"Because I wanted to see you…" Aomine was surprisingly honest, and it brought a quick blush to Kagami's face.

"Aomine…"

"I know this may seem sudden, but...I like you, Kagami. I've liked you since I first met you. I know it may seem like I'm talking all types of nonsense, but...I don't want this to end here. I can't let it end here. If I don't say it now, then I don't know if you'll ever know how I'll feel." Aomine's confession released a giant pressure off his chest that he had been keeping locked up for months now.

Aomine gazed at Kagami, who was getting redder and redder by the minute. "Damn it, Kagami! Say something! Say anything!"

Completely flustered, Kagami opened his mouth to speak, "Aomine, I li-"

"Hey! I don't mean to interrupt, but...are any of you Kagami Taiga? My name Kiyoshi Teppei and I'm his new student." A brown-haired, tall man stepped into their area and pausing their conversation.

"Kagami, I'll see you later." Aomine said, turning around to leave in a hurry.

"Yeah, I am…Nice to meet you." Kagami smiled at the man, giving Aomine a quick fleeting glance before turning his back around to face Kiyoshi once more.

"Was that your boyfriend?" Kiyoshi asked innocently.

Kagami nearly fell out of his chair, "W-what makes you say that!?"

"Nothing, I just...heard the last part of his confession as I was walking here." Kiyoshi responded plainly, judgement not existing in his tone.

"Yeah, er...well… about that…" Kagami honestly didn't know how to respond to his questions.

"You should tell him how you feel. Don't leave him hanging. What are you afraid of?" Kiyoshi advised.

Kagami felt hesitant about letting a stranger know his business, but there was something brotherly and comforting about Kiyoshi that made him unable to lie to his face. "It's just...we're too different. He's into sports, I'm into academics. I don't know if it'll work out."

"Huh? Sounds to me like it's just different hobbies and no couple has the exact same hobbies. The point of the relationship is to grow together and explore one another's interests, regardless of how different they may be. Who knows, maybe it'll rub off on you!" Kiyoshi smiled and lightly rubbed Kagami on his head.

"Yeah, I should…" Kagami trailed off for a minute deep in thought. "Anyway, let's get this lesson started.

/

"Okay, everyone have your calculators and pencils? This is the final exam, so you can leave whenever you finish. If you have to leave to go to the bathroom, please leave your bags at your desk. Now, begin." The teacher instructed for the final time of the year.

Aomine lazily wrote his name on the top line of the paper before flipping his test open, eyes scanning over the questions. But, who could think of math at a time like this when Kagami didn't contact him at all since his confession yesterday? He couldn't help but think he fucked up so badly, that he should have just kept quiet and kept his feelings to himself.

"Damn it…" Aomine mumbled under his breath.

With the stone-cold silence filling the room, Aomine's thoughts only seemed louder than usual. What if he messed up so badly Kagami would never want to see him again? What if he doesn't know the questions on his exam and fails at the last minute? What if his grades are so bad that he can't be on the basketball team? What if? What if? What if?

Aomine suddenly felt as if all the oxygen in the room had been taken away, leaving him gasping for breath and his desk. He felt as if his chest was closing in on itself, and began panicking at his desk, causing numerous students to send worried glances his way.

Aomine immediately stood up and rushed out of the classroom door, ignoring the worried calls of his name as he fled down the hallway. He threw his back against a nearby locker, sliding down and loosening the tie around his neck, struggling for breath.

"Aomine?" A voice called his name, but Aomine's ignored it, burying his hands in his hair and his head in his lap.

"Aomine? Is that you?" The voice that called him before is now coming closer.

The person who owned the voice was finally in front of him, quickly sitting down and grasped his shoulders. "Aomine, answer me already, geez!"

With the sudden physical contact, Aomine finally looked up and was met with a familiar, yet fiery red gaze.

"Kagami?" Aomine's eyes widened at the boy sitting in front of him.

"What are you doing out here? Don't you have a final exam right now?" Kagami asked, worry filling his voice.

Completely ignoring his question, Aomine laughed lightly at the scene in front of him. Here he was, looking completely wrecked on the floor of the school, and here comes his knight in shining armor to come save him. In theory, of course.

"I thought...I thought you would never speak to me again." Aomine said, eyes shifting to the side.

"Why would you think that?"

"Because! You didn't have give me an answer after I confessed yesterday and you didn't text or call me all night, so I just figured I freaked you out or something."

"Aomine…"

"Like maybe you weren't ready or felt uncomfortable for my feelings for you or maybe you felt like I was rushing into things…."

"Aomine!"

"I thought our meeting in the library was the last time I'd ever see you, especially since summer vacation is coming up and -"

"Oh my god, Aomine! Shut the hell up already!" Kagami raised his voice a little bit, causing Aomine to finally be quiet.

Kagami burst into laughter, causing a deep furrow and frown to form on Aomine's face. 'What's funny about what I said?"

Kagami wiped little tears from his eyes, "You're an idiot, I swear."

Immediately offended, Aomine perked up, "How am I an idiot!?"

"Because!"

"Because why?"

"Because… you left before I could tell you how I felt. You left before I told you that I like you too." Kagami felt a little embarassed, but he made a pledge to himself that he wouldn't run away this time from what he felt. The months and months of his encounters with Aomine has led up to this moment right here and he would be damned if he let it slip away.

"Y-you like me too?" Aomine didn't mean to stutter, but he was so taken aback he forgot how to speak for just a moment.

"Yeah, you're not so bad." Kagami said jokingly, causing them both to laugh.

"I like you, Kagami. So..please. Please, stay with me. Even after all this ends, stay with me." Aomine says softly.

Kagami said nothing, but he could feel Aomine's gaze on him as he awaited a response. For once in his life, he thought, he should just go on instinct and not think so much about "what ifs" or "but thens". Kagami cupped Aomine's face lightly in his hands, and slowly lowered his lips onto his. His kiss, although hesitant and shaky, communicated how he felt more than his words could possibly express. Kagami pulled back after a few seconds, looking to see Aomine's expression, only to see a full blush fill his features and eyes wide as the moon.

When Kagami opened his mouth to speak, Aomine grabbed his tie and pulled his body forward, making Kagami's lips crash onto his once more. When they both parted, Kagami leaned his forehead on Aomine's, smiling to himself.

"As much as I don't want you to leave, you have to go back to your exam. You've wasted a lot of time out here." Kagami says softly.

"I don't know if I can go back in there...what if I fail it?" Aomine says hesitantly.

"You won't, I believe in you. You can do anything when you put your mind to it." Kagami says reassuringly.

"Thank you for believing in me, Kagami. It means a lot." Aomine smiled at him, making Kagami smile at him right back.

"Of course, I am your tutor afterall."

And when Kagami placed his hand in his and interlaced his fingers in between his, he truly felt like he could do anything.


	4. Chapter 4

First Time Mates aokagaisball Summary: Kagami surprisingly goes into heat and presents as an Omega. Aomine catches his scent and lust ensues, but after it clears how will they handle this new relationship. Will they be able to make it work? Notes: Another short story, only two chapters long. Again, may lengthen it eventually.

Chapter 1 Chapter Text

Kagami woke up, feeling extremely hot and uncomfortable. He stood, wobbling slightly from dizziness, but moved on. He had to get ready to meet Aomine at the park to play basketball. No way was he missing out on that just because he felt a little hot. Kagami walked out his door, leaving the apartment empty and dark. For some reason when the sun hit him all he wanted to do was rush back into the apartment and crawl into bed. Shaking his head vigorously he jogging, warming his body up, not that it really needed it at this point. He felt like a furnace.

Finally turning the corner to the park, Kagami put his hands on his knees gasping for breath. What the hell was wrong with him? He felt like he had run for 3 hours, not 15 minutes. Plus, what was with all the strange stares he was getting on the way over here? Kagami was used to stares as he was a very large male who was almost 18 that hadn't presented yet. In the world of omega/alpha/beta classes, Kagami was a freak. But this morning was different. It was almost as if just by his scent, people whipped their heads in his direction. Shrugging it off, he walked to the court, already seeing Aomine there. It was at that moment that the wind whipped into his body, carrying the most amazing smell he had ever smelt in his life. Dropping to his knees he let out a loud moan, his cock instantly hard, throbbing against his shorts.  
Aomine turned to the sound, wondering what the hell was going on. Seeing the red head on his knees, he rushed over, gripping his shoulders, looking him over frantically for an injury.

"Kagami! Kagami what's wrong?"

The red head looked up into Aomine's eyes, his pupils blown fully and his face flushed, "Aomine help me. I'm so hot and…it hurts."

Aomine looked over the boy again, seeing nothing wrong, "What hurts, Kagami? You have to te-…."

Aomine sniffed the air lightly, something catching his attention. Tilting his head in confusion he leaned right into Kagami's neck, taking a large inhale of his scent. The effect was instantaneous on his body. His teeth elongated, his claws sliding out, and his cock got hard as a rock. He felt Kagami moan again, leaning his face into his neck and rubbing their skin together.

"Ahhh Aomine..you smell so good.."

Aomine growled, low and deep, his fingers holding the other boy tightly now, not giving him the chance to leave.

"Kagami, your presenting as an omega. You need to get inside away from.."

Aomine heard the noise before the stranger entered the park. Looking over the head of the moaning boy in front of him, Aomine saw the big man heading towards them, his eyes glued to Kagami's back. Aomine knew what he wanted, and fuck him if he thought he was gonna lay a finger on Kagami. Letting out a deep growl, Aomine glared at the intruder, forcing him to stop. The stranger's fists clenched, taking another step forward. Aomine stood up now, one of his hands resting on the back of Kagami's neck, as he let out another, louder growl. Aomine had presented as an alpha a few years ago. He was the definition of the word; his body big and strong, and his instincts pushing him to protect Kagami. Challenging Aomine at this moment would be extremely stupid, and the stranger seemed to realize that, but his body was obviously taking a while to catch up with his brain. Aomine bared his teeth, snarling as the man still stood there. Jumping at the display, the stranger finally backed away, leaving the park.

"Kagami, we need to get you home."

Aomine was truly amazed he could even think straight at this point, his alpha instinct screaming at him to push the red head to the ground and mount him until he was screaming his name. He dug his fingers into the palm of his free hand, instantly drawing blood.

Kagami smelt the scent instantly, reaching over in his dazed state, licking the red drops off the dark skin. Aomine's hips thrust involuntarily, his body's lust and desire spiking to a dangerous level.

Gritting his teeth he pulled Kagami up, throwing the large boy over his shoulder. Running as fast as he could with the larger boy in tow, he headed to his apartment. He had to let out a few growls again as they past more unpaired alphas. It wasn't helping that Kagami was trying to rub his body all over Aomine's, moaning into the boy's ear at every moment. Aomine's control was slipping.

Finally climbing the stairs to the other boy's apartment, Aomine unlocked and kicked the door open, dropping Kagami on the couch and relocked the door, making sure no one could get in. Pressing his forehead against the closed wood, he took a deep breath, trying to clear his lust filled mind.

"Daiki…."

Aomine tensed. Looking back at Kagami, his heart stopped at the image. Kagami was spread out on the couch, his shorts and boxers on the floor. He had slid two of his fingers into his ass, it wet with slick already. His other hand was urgently pumping his cock. Kagami's back arched slightly, his eyes never leaving Aomine's body as he begged in a breathless voice.

"Daiki..please..help me…I need you."

Aomine stood frozen, the image of the red head in heat forever burned into his brain. Somehow he still restrained himself as he spoke.

"Kagami..you don't know what you're asking for."

He watched Kagami groan and thrust his fingers deeper into his drenched hole, "Daiki pleeeease…I do..i know…mmmmahhh I need you pleasee…"

Aomine's control snapped, a rough growl coming deep from his chest as he stalked over to the other boy, ripping his clothes off as he went. His alpha instincts were screaming in triumph as he stood over the writhing body laid out for him.

His eyes burned into Kagami's as he looked down at him, "There's no going back, Taiga. After this you're mine. Forever."

Kagami gasped at the image of a naked Aomine standing over him, his nose filled with the scent of him. All he wanted was to turn over and present his ass to Aomine, begging for his cock. He reached up instead scrapping his nails down the dark skin of Aomine's chest.

"Fuck me Daiki."

Chapter 2 Chapter Text

Aomine immediately grabbed Kagami, pulling him up off the couch, forcing the boy to wrap his legs around him. Not being able to wait any longer, the red head grabbed Aomine's face and crushed their lips together. A loud growl filled the room as Aomine kissed him back hard, walking as quickly as he could to the bedroom. Breaking the kiss he dropped Kagami onto the bed, not giving him a chance to change his mind as he quickly crawled up over the omega.

"On your hands and knees, Taiga," Aomine growled out, staring down at the exposed red head.

Kagami whimpered with obedience and flipped, thrusting his ass up against Aomine's hard cock, his hands fisting in the sheets. Mewling, he looked over his shoulder, his pupils blown with desire. He needed Aomine so bad he was aching.

"Daiki please…I need…"

Aomine gripped his hips, pulling his ass back to his hips, rubbing his hard cock all over Kagami's slick hole, "I know what you need, Taiga. I'm gonna give it to you."  
Kagami let out a loud moan as Aomine knelt over his body, mounting him. He could feel Aomine line up his cock with his drenched hole, his slick and heat making preparation unnecessary.

Kagami arched his spine, his head rolling back, "Daikiiii….DAIKI!"

Aomine thrust deep, a shout ripping from his mouth as he felt the hot, slick insides of the red head, Kagami's ass instantly clenching around his cock as he came right away. Putting his head on the red head's shoulder, Aomine gritted his teeth, waiting for the boy to relax a bit for him to be able to move.

"Ahh fuck Taiga…stop clenching, relax.."

Kagami moaned and wiggled under Aomine, his cock still throbbing after his release, "I'm trying…just move..fuck please just move."

Aomine couldn't stand it anymore. His mate was begging him to fuck him and his control was completely gone. Growling into Kagami's back, Aomine moved his hands to grip the red head's hips, thrusting forward, retreating, and then thrusting hard again. Over and over his hips moved, pushing deeper and deeper into Kagami until his balls were slapping against his ass every time he thrust. His claws dug into Kagami's skin, leaving marks, but he couldn't stop. His body was out of his control as he fucked into Kagami over and over again. He watched the boy under him moan and shout, cuming over and over again, begging for more. Aomine's body moved faster and faster, deep moans and growls coming from his mouth. The alpha in him was howling, celebrating at the mating with Kagami, but he needed one thing more to feel complete.

As if reading his mind, Kagami turned his head, exposing his neck before him, "Daiki bite me…ahhhmmm fuck…hnnng mark me..AH fucK! DAIKI!"

Kagami's cock exploded again, cum shooting over the now ruined sheets, his body out of control with pleasure. Bring his head to the side more he let out a low whine. He needed to feel Aomine inside of him in all ways, his omega begging for it to feel completely mated to the alpha above him.

Aomine let out a snarl, his hand gripping Kagami's hair, tilting his head more as his teeth became sharp in his mouth. Bringing his lips to the exposed skin, Aomine inhaled his mate's scent, the strong aroma making his head dizzy. Thrusting his hips forward, he bit Kagami's neck hard; the taste of blood flowing into his mouth drove him insane. Holding onto his mate's neck, Aomine thrust erratically, losing his rhythm as he felt his knot forming. Eventually he could only rock against Kagami's ass, but as the red head came once again, his hole clenched impossible tight around Aomine, the tightness forcing the alpha to cum. Grinding deep, he growled his release into Kagami's neck, his teeth still marking the red head.

Kagami was drunk with pleasure as he felt Aomine release inside him, the heavy feeling of his cum pushed deep by Aomine's knot made him sigh. The feeling of Aomine's teeth still in his neck made him shiver. He had no idea how long they stayed like that, but eventually he felt Aomine's mouth release him, his tongue coming out to lap at the wound.

Aomine's voice was rough and gravelly as he spoke, his chest heaving against Kagami's back, "I'm..I bit you really hard..I'm sorry, Taiga."

Kagami just smiled, "Mmm no, was amazing."

Aomine smirked, still panting. It seemed Kagami was clear headed now and didn't hate him. This was an extremely good sign for Aomine as he slowly slid out of the boy, his knot having receded. Kagami instantly fell to the bed under him, the red head breathing hard, his body bruised and well used. He could only hum in satisfaction as Aomine let his fingers trail gently over the mark on his neck. Aomine's alpha was howling with satisfaction, the sight of his mark on Kagami's neck making him feel impossibly complete.

"Are you still sure, Taiga?"

Kagami snorted, not bothering to open his eyes, "Yeah dumbass. Besides, it would be a little hard to change it now. Not that I want too."

Grinning, Aomine stood, walking to the bathroom to clean himself up and grabbing a warm, wet washcloth for his mate. Leaning over the red head, he cleaned him up as best he could, turning him this way and that, amazed at how much Kagami had cum. As he was about to head for the kitchen to find food, Kagami gripped his wrist, a low, rough noise coming from him.

"Ahh…Daiki…again."

Looking down at him, Aomine saw the pleasure spiking in Kagami. Throwing the cloth to the floor, Aomine spread Kagami's legs, mounting him again as he ran his fingers over his slick hole, leaning down to kiss the boy's lips, sliding his tongue deep into his hot mouth. Not breaking the kiss, Aomine thrust into the red head, loving the sound of satisfaction coming from Kagami's throat as he filled him up. Leaning back he pressed his forehead to the red head's, his voice rough as he thrust forward again.

"Anything for you, my mate, my Taiga."

Chapter 3

Notes: Here, have more shameless alpha/omega Aokaga smut. After this it won't be all kissing and smiles so get the smut while it's good! :D

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Kagami woke slowly, his body sore and aching all over. Letting out a deep groan he rolled onto his back, his left side coming into contact with the large body next to him. It had been a week since Kagami had presented as an omega and gone into heat. One long week of doing nothing but eating and mating with Aomine. Looking over at his mate, the red head couldn't help but grin. He had been worried at one point that after his heat passed he would regret all of it, as Aomine and he didn't exactly get along 100% of the time. But as he looked at the sleeping male next to him, all he wanted to do was push into Aomine's body, surrounding himself with the feel and scent of his mate.

Unfortunately, Kagami's body had other issues, such as needing to be clean. Grimacing, the red head gingerly stood from the bed, his hips and back letting out sharp pains. Shuffling to the bathroom, he immediately turned on the shower, letting the water heat up. After giving his teeth a thorough brushing, Kagami stepped under the hot water, a loud gasp coming from him as the water pelted down on his sore muscles. Standing through the pain, the red head eventually relaxed, the water washing away a week's worth of soreness. Grabbing a cloth and soap, the omega started washing his body, sliding the soapy material over his skin, gradually noticing the scratches and bite marks peppered here and there.

"How rude not to invite me."

Jumping in surprise, the cloth falling to the floor with a loud squish noise, Kagami turning to the deep, rough voice. Aomine stood in the doorway, leaning against it with his arms crossed, completely naked. His blue eyes were bright with desire as they traveled over Kagami's body, his tongue running over his lips as he noticed the marks he had left on the golden skin of his mate. Kagami's heart pounded as he watched the other male study him, his own red eyes lighting up as he watched Aomine's cock get hard right before him. Pulling his eyes up, he met his mates, both of them grinning.

Kagami was the first to break the silence, his voice husky with lust, "Why don't you join me, Daiki?"

Aomine stopped grinning and let out a deep growl, stalking forward to stand before the omega, a hand instantly going up to Kagami's neck, his thumb tracing over the mating mark he had left.

"I love hearing you say my name, Taiga."

Leaning into the hand, Kagami kissed and nipped at the long, dusky fingers, "Same," leaning into the alpha's neck, Kagami let his lips brush against Aomine's ear, "Daiki."

Letting out a loud groan, Aomine turned his head and captured his mate's lips, loving the sound of the omega moaning as he did. Moving his hand up, he gripped the back of Kagami's head, his hands threading through the wet red strands. As the warm water cascaded down on them, Kagami wrapped his arms around his mate's neck, crushing their bodies together, their kiss getting harder and deep. Thrusting his tongue deep into Aomine's mouth, Kagami started rubbing their hips together, relishing in the way their skin felt sliding together. Aomine let out a deep growl in the back of his throat as he felt the omega rub and grind against him, his hands moving down Kagami's wet back and gripping his ass tight. Sinking his teeth into the plump lower lip of the red head, Aomine pulled one of Kagami's long legs up, hooking it around his hip, their hard cocks now perfectly aligned together.

As he felt the friction on his cock, Kagami tilted his head back, his mouth open as he moaned, "Daiki…ahhh Daiki please…inside now."

Not needing to be told twice, Aomine reached under his mate with his free hand, aligning his slick cock with Kagami's twitching hole. As he pushed into the omega slowly, the blue haired male pressed his face against Kagami's exposed neck, sucking and licking over the mating mark.

"Ahhh yess…mmm Daiki more…"

Letting out a loud snarl, Aomine sank his teeth into the omega's neck at the same time he snapped his hips up, burying his cock deep inside his mate. Strong fingers moved to grip his blue hair as he started to thrust, his cock sinking deeper and deeper inside Kagami. As he angled his hips just right, hitting the red head's sweet spot, he felt Kagami's other leg buckle. Reaching down quickly, Aomine gripped his mate's leg, bringing them both up to wrap around his waist as he walked forward.

Kagami felt his back hit the cool tile, his body sinking down onto Aomine's cock, his legs tightening around the narrow waist of his mate. Feeling the alpha suck harder on his neck, Kagami dug his sharp nails into the strong shoulder blades under his hands, his voice getting louder and louder, filling the tiny bathroom.

"Ahhh fuck Daiki! Hnnnnggg harder…ohhh right there…mmmyess fucKK!"

Aomine released the red head's neck, pulling his head back to watch the completely wrecked face of his mate as he shouted for more.

"Ohhh shit Taiga…your so fuckin tight…so hot…mmmm that's it baby…tighten around me."

As Kagami felt Aomine thrust harder, his hips moving faster, he reached down and wrapped a wet hand around his throbbing cock, pumping it quickly, so close to cumming. Aomine watched his mate grip himself, the image forcing a deep, continuous growl to come from his chest, his alpha roaring with pleasure at seeing Kagami on the brink of orgasm. Going harder, Aomine dug his nails into Kagami's skin, his hips snapping up at an uneven pace, his balls tightening as he got so close to exploding, his knot already forming. He wanted to watch Kagami cum before he did.

"Ahh Taiga…are you gonna cum baby? You gonna explode your hot cum all over my chest? Cum for me Taiga. Mark me as yours."

With the image of Aomine being marked and smelling like him, Kagami let out a loud roar and exploded, his cock shooting string after string of white cum all over Aomine and his chest, his ass clenched tight around Aomine's knot. His nails dug into the alphas shoulders as his body shook with pleasure. Aomine couldn't last any longer as he watched his mate cum all over him, his face contorted with pleasure. With one final thrust, he shot his load deep inside his mate, his knot and cock throbbing as his legs shook, threatening to buckle under the weight and pleasure. Pressing his forehead to Kagami's chest, the blue haired male panted, coming down from his high, waiting for his knot to subside.

Kagami panted, his voice hoarse, "You know, I came in here to relax and get clean."

Aomine chuckled, "You don't feel relaxed Taiga?"

Looking down at the satisfied smirk on Aomine's face, Kagami hit him on the head playfully, "Did you miss the 'getting clean' part?"

Aomine grinned wider, hefting the red head up into his arms and back away from the wall, "Ah I can do something about that then."

Walking towards the bathtub, Aomine kicked the knob to the left, the hot water gushing out. Kagami gripped his mate tight, sure he was going to be dropped any second. He was a very large male, even as an omega, and not used to being carried around. As the water line got higher, Aomine stepped carefully into the tub.

"Daiki we have to wash off first dumbass!"

As the red head squirmed in his arms, Aomine smacked his ass hard, "Says who?"

At the feel of the smack on his ass, Kagami got very still, his fingers going into the blue hair of his mate, pulling on it to tilt Aomine's head up, "Did you just smack my ass?"

"I believe I just spanked your ass."

Kagami glared down at the alpha, "Put me down Daiki."

"Why?"

Growling, Kagami's teeth got sharp, "Because I'm going to beat your ass for that."

Notes: Thanks for reading! Next chapter will move onto how Kagami and Aomine start clashing. Kagami may be an omega, but he certainly isn't the type of guy to follow his alpha mate around like a puppy, and Aomine is going to have to learn to deal with that. PLUS, what will the other members of the GoM think? Some of them maaaaaay not be happy. ;)

Chapter 4: Chapter 4

Notes: THE HONEYMOON IS OVER! No seriously, I told you all things were gonna clash and here they are. WARNING: there is mention of blood and violence in this chapter. Just a heads up. I will explain things a bit more at the end.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Aomine placed his mate on the ground, chuckling a bit, "You're going to beat my ass? I don't think so Taiga."

Kagami stood toe to toe with his mate, his red eyes blazing with anger, "Let's get some things straight here, Daiki. Yes, I'm your mate and you're mine. Yes, I am an omega. But if you think for one second that changes anything between us then you're in for one hell of an awakening."

Aomine's eyes narrowed, his teeth getting a bit sharper behind his lips. Alphas didn't respond in kind to anyone challenging them, let alone an omega. If Aomine had fur, his hair would be straight up down his back, a low growl coming from his chest.

"Don't say shit like that, Kagami. It isn't funny. You just have to suck it up and deal with it. I'm the alpha and you're the omega. Get used to it."

Aomine wasn't prepared for the fist that came flying towards the left side of his face, knocking him to the ground. As he looked up from the floor, his cheek throbbing, he saw Kagami standing, his body shaking and his fist clenched, his red eyes glaring down at him.

"Screw you, Aomine. Get the fuck out of my apartment."

Standing up slowly, Aomine rubbed his cheek, his whole body conflicted. He was an alpha that had just been hit. He was obviously pissed off and ready to reciprocate, but it was his mate that had hit him. He didn't want to hurt Kagami, his instincts telling him to protect the red head, not hit him. His voice was deep and rough as he looked at his mate, his face contorted in obvious anger.

"You're pissing me off Kagami. Don't push it."

Kagami normally let things go, or rather he was quick to forgive people. But as he saw the unapologetic glare his mate was giving him, he refused to calm down. Aomine was wrong. Just because Kagami was an omega didn't give him the right to treat him like a lesser being than him. Feeling his teeth lengthen in his mouth, his adrenaline pumping through his veins, he stepped closer to the alpha. His omega side was frantically trying to pull him back, but Kagami had always been hot headed.

"I said get the fuck out of my apartment, Aomine."

Both of the males growled, the deep, harsh sound filling the room that was just previously filled with sounds of pleasure, the contrast not lost on them. Neither of them spoke, both staring the other down, their bodies poised to clash if either made a wrong move. Finally, Aomine snapped back, the need to protect and give his mate what he wanted overriding everything else.

Jerking his head to the side, Aomine walked away, stomping towards the door, "Fine. Whatever. Call me when you're done being an asshole, Kagami."

Opening and slamming the door, Aomine left, leaving Kagami to sag against the wall, his body stressed and pushed to its limits. It had been a long week, his emotions going from extremely happy to pissed off in such a short span. Plus the fact that he was an omega was taking a toll on his self-confidence. Kagami had been convinced he would present as an alpha.

Letting out a loud sigh, the red head rubbed his hands over his face, almost as if he could scrub away what had just happened. Walking towards the kitchen he decided eating something and then taking a bath would help get his mind straight. He needed to learn how to come to terms with himself before dealing with an overzealous alpha like Aomine.

* * *

A few days later, Aomine begrudgingly walked to the park to meet everyone for their weekly basketball game. He hadn't wanted to come, still irritated with Kagami and their argument. If he was being honest, he was more irritated at being separated from his mate for so many days, but he wasn't going to admit that to anyone. He may be in love with the red headed omega, but he had his pride as an alpha. Seeing Kagami and getting to play basketball with him was really the only reason he had pushed himself out of the house today, the heat baring down on his head and shoulders.

Turning the corner to the park, he entered, noticing everyone was already here before him, as usual. What he didn't expect was for Kagami to show up at the exact same time, both of them coming to a stop, staring at each other. Aomine rubbed the back of his head, fighting the internal urge to wrap his arms around his mate, rubbing against him.

"Hey."

Looking at Kagami with surprise, he noticed the red head wasn't doing much better with holding himself back, his fist clenched at his sides. Even as they fought, their bodies were howling for them to touch in some way.

Aomine's voice was soft, more than ever as he looked at Kagami, "Hey."

As red eyes finally met blue, they both stared at each other, yearning filling their eyes. Aomine knew he needed to say something, to apologize. He was a colossal ass towards his mate, something that shouldn't have surprised him by now.

"Hey, I'm really so-"

It was then that he realized the basketball from the rest of the group wasn't bouncing. He felt the wind change before he heard the growl, the breeze sending both his and Kagami's scents to the group. He heard footsteps and saw Kagami's eyes shift to the right, surprise written on his face. Before he could turn his head to see who it was he was tackled to the ground.

* * *

Kagami didn't know how to respond. He had never seen his friend so angry. Kuroko had presented as an alpha just a year before, surprising everyone. Kagami had learned to get used to it quickly though. AS quiet and unnoticeable as Kuroko was, Kagami knew that deep down inside he wasn't someone to be taken lightly. He had known this ever since meeting the shorter male, his gut telling him not to push the male too far at any time. But as he saw his best friend launch himself at Aomine, he couldn't help but stand there in shock.

When he heard another growl to his right, he didn't have time to be surprised. He instantly reacted as he jumped in between his mate and the very angry purple giant that was racing towards him. When he felt the powerful hit to his midsection, Murasakibara taking him down to the ground, a loud shout came from his mouth, the feeling hitting him like a car.

* * *

Aomine was struggling with Kuroko on top of him, the light blue eyes full of anger and rage as his friend growled down at him. He knew he was much stronger than the smaller alpha, but with the surprise attack and the obvious rage Kuroko was full of, Aomine wasn't entirely sure how much stronger at this point. His alpha was roaring for him to fight back, to push the male off and put him on the ground, but as Kuroko clawed at him quickly, his hits seeming to come out of nowhere, all he could do was put his arms over his face and try to get away from the male.

When he heard the second growl coming from his left somewhere, he cursed, not believing the reaction his friends were having. In the next second, a shout of obvious pain filled the air, the sound causing Aomine to freeze. Kuroko also froze, his head whipping to look behind him, his body simply sitting on Aomine's now. He didn't have time to move before Aomine roared, bucking him off and jumping to his feet. He wasn't thinking at this point, Aomine's instincts completely taking over, his eyes dark and teeth lengthened, his claws sharp as he sprinted towards the purple giant that was crouched over his mate.

He didn't stop as he threw himself into Murasakibara, a snarl ripping from his throat as the two of them rolled, his claws digging into any part of the larger boy he could reach. The purple haired boy had hurt his mate. Full of rage, Aomine quickly moved out of reach of the larger alpha as he lunged towards him. Using his speed Aomine tackled the alpha to the ground, wrapping one arm around Murasakibara's neck, the other digging his claw into his shoulder. He opened his mouth wide, a loud snarl leaving his throat as he snapped his head forward, sinking his teeth into the soft spot between the neck and shoulder, Murasakibara letting out a loud yell, his big hands scrambling back to pull Aomine off.

Wrapping his legs around the giant's stomach, Aomine hung on, his teeth tearing at the purple haired male's skin, blood filling his mouth. He couldn't stop. All he could think of was the image of Murasakibara crouching over his mate and Kagami's painful shout filling his ears. He didn't hear any of the shouting around him, nor did he feel the numerous amounts of hands grabbing at his body and hair, trying to pull him off the other male. He tightened his hold, snapping his jaw shut more, the painful yelp from Murasakibara satisfied his alpha, the need to protect his mate overriding everything else.

All at once the hands stopped and everything got quiet except the roar in Aomine's head. He felt a small, but strong hand slide up his back and into his hair, gripping it tightly, but still gently.

"Daiki, release now," the commanding voice snapped through his rage filled haze.

* * *

Kagami was sitting on the ground, his stomach bruised from the tackle Murasakibara had given to him, which he knew now was meant for Aomine and not him, the purple giant instantly taking his weight off him when he realized who he had hit. He hadn't been able to tell the purple haired male that it was ok as Aomine had appeared out of nowhere, taking the large male to the ground. Kagami had heard about the stories of alphas going into a rage to protect their mates, but he had never witnessed one. As he sat watching Aomine sink his teeth into Murasakibara he was dumbfounded, not being able to move. His omega was calm, almost as if this was normal, but he wasn't, the sight before him scaring him. He had never seen Aomine like this, completely lost to rage as he attacked one of his friends. He watched the others yell and pull at the blue haired male but to no avail. It actually seemed to make it worse. He yelled at himself to move, to stand, to help Murasakibara and the others, but he was rooted to the spot, his red eyes wide.

As Akashi stepped forward, the only calm one in the scene, Kagami had never been more grateful for the smaller red head. He watched Akashi grip Aomine's blue strands, the sight making Kagami unsettled, but as Akashi spoke, Aomine instantly released Murasakibara, his body unwinding from the large male and falling to the ground on his hands and knees. Aomine was panting and shaking, his mouth and chin covered in blood as he closed his eyes. He was obviously in pain, his sharp claws digging into the asphalt below him. Kagami didn't wait any longer, his omega taking over his fear, his body rushing forward towards his mate, pushing through the other males.

* * *

Aomine's body felt hot and tight. It was painful, the rage coursing through his veins. His alpha wasn't happy, the need to avenge Kagami still present and would be until Murasakibara wasn't moving or the rage lifted, something that took a long while on average. The only thing keeping him on the ground was Akashi standing over him.

No one had been surprised when Akashi had presented as an alpha, the red head presenting way before the rest of them. He hadn't felt different to them until they had presented themselves, Aomine in particular. Aomine was a very strong alpha, on the same level as Murasakibara, maybe even slightly more as the lazy attitude of the purple giant sometimes overrode his instincts. As an alpha or omega, you could feel the energy and level of those around you, your inner beast testing them as soon as you met them. After Aomine had presented, he had gone to play his weekly game with his friends. He hadn't been prepared for the unbearable strength that emitted from Akashi, the alpha's level overwhelming to the blue haired male, almost to the point that Aomine had had to leave on their first meeting. Akashi was the only one that could have broken through to Aomine, and he was the only one capable of keeping him in check when he was in a rage, for that Aomine was thankful. He knew what he had done to Murasakibara, the guilt trying to seep into his bones, but the rage pushed it past quickly. As he started to shake with the effort to stay on the ground, the looming presence of Akashi over him, he suddenly felt two strong hands on his cheeks.

* * *

Kneeling in front of Aomine, Kagami cupped his face, bringing his mates face up, looking at the dark eyes, knowing he needed to help him. He moved as if he knew exactly what to do, his omega guiding him perfectly as he leaned into his mates neck and rubbed his face against it, letting out soft sighs against the hot skin.

"Daiki. Daiki it's ok. Please calm down. Daiki."

He chanted Aomine's name over and over, rubbing his scent against the alphas, knowing this was the only thing that would clear the rage filled haze in Aomine's mind quickly. As he felt Aomine stop shaking he let out a deep satisfied rumble, his body pushing the blue haired male back to his knees. Wrapping his arms around Aomine's midsection, gripping his back, Kagami pressed to him tightly, their chests meeting, their skin touching in every place possible. Leaning up he kissed under the alpha's jaw until it unclenched. As he felt strong arms wrap around him and hold him close he nearly cried out with happiness, his eyes clenching shut as he buried his face into his mate's neck.

In the next moment he felt Aomine let out a deep breath, his body untensing altogether, his head coming down to rest on top of Kagami's, his voice soft and tired next to the red head's ear.

"Taiga. My mate. Taiga."

Grinning, Kagami let out a matching sigh, the two males holding each other close, their heartbeats thumping hard in their chests as they pressed impossibly close.

"Are you ok Taiga?"

Letting out a soft hum, Kagami leaned back and looked into the clear blue eyes now. Pressing his lips to his mates softly for a moment, he mumbled against them.

"I am now."

* * *

Akashi watched the couple for a moment, making completely sure that Aomine was out of his rage before he turned to Kuroko and Murasakibara, both of them still breathing hard and tense. The wound on the purple male's neck already healing. As he spoke, his voice was soft and calm, but laced with steel.

"Tetsuya, Atsushi, why don't you explain to the rest of us what exactly you were planning to do to Daiki?"

The purple haired male looked down, trying to catch his breath, not wanting to face Akashi just yet, but the shorter blue haired alpha stood his ground, pulling a smile from the red head before him.

"He claimed Kagami kun."

"Yes, it would seem so. Did you want to challenge Daiki for Taiga, Tetsuya?"

"No, not at all. He claimed him only a week ago and Kagami kun is already upset."

Akashi nodded. He understood now. Kuroko was very protective of Kagami, more so than any other unattached alpha he had ever seen. It was almost amusing, seeing the short alpha trying to protect the larger omega, but Akashi didn't laugh. He understood the urge to protect those he cared for. As he looked around at the males present he nodded again. Yes, as an unattached alpha, Akashi completely understood the blue haired males need to protect. He was the ultimate alpha of this pack, they were under his protection, and if a force from inside the pack or outside threatened or upset any of them, Akashi was not going to be happy.

"Atsushi?"

The purple haired male mumbled under his breath, "I liked Kaga chin."

"You don't like him anymore?"

Murasakibara let a deep rumble come from his chest as he stood, his face pouting as he eyed Daiki, "Not enough."

Again, Akashi nodded. Now there was only one issue to deal with, one that he knew was going to be much more difficult than Kuroko or Murasakibara. As he looked at the couple on the ground he paused. He knew Aomine was an attached alpha now, making him much more dangerous than before, but Akashi considered Kagami to be part of his pack, and the simple fact was that Aomine obviously hadn't treated him right. This needed to be dealt with.

Notes: Ok, a couple things. In my mind I see Alphas and Omegas as half animal, half human without looking like an animal. Their teeth and claws get sharp, their eyes get dark, and they have much more strength and speed than a human. Most importantly, their instincts are constantly at war, their animal side and human side needing fulfillment. That's why Aomine reacted the way he did. He saw someone hurt his mate. His alpha instincts took over and it didn't matter that Murasakibara was his friend. He was a threat to his mate. DONT WORRY THOUGH! They can also heal much faster than a normal human, so besides being pouty and a bit sore, our sweet candy giant will be just fine.  
Also I made it so Murasakibara had had a bit of a crush on Kagami. I always think they have a lot in common so I went with that. And yes, Kuroko is an alpha. This is for good reason. Besides, I never see Kuroko as being in need of protection. He always strikes me as someone, no matter if he is weaker, doing the protecting. AND YES, Akashi, my husband, is a BAMF and don't fuck with his pack. There we have it. Huzzah! Things will get better next chapter as Kagami and Aomine work through their relationship. Thanks for reading!

Chapter 5

Notes: I realize this is a bit short, but I am already writing the next chapter, so it will be posted either later today or tomorrow. I am truly sorry for the long time between updating, I have just been a bit busy. I will make sure to be better though! Enjoy! Oh! And as always, my tumblr is aokagaisball-and-ballislife if you ever want to send me a message or something. I write small aokaga drabbles there as well. THANKS!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"Daiki."

Aomine looked up at Akashi upon hearing his name, the word said more as a command rather than a question. He knew what Akashi was mad about. Of course he didn't figure he could put it past the shorter male, but he was hoping he would have been able to properly explain why he had emotionally hurt his mate so much. But now, after the entire mess that was this situation, he let out a deep sigh, his body and brain not prepared for this conversation.

"I know Akashi. I know what you want to say. I fucked up with Kagami-"

He paused as Kagami stood, his big body in between him and Akashi.

"Akashi it wasn't his fault. I understand your need to protect me, and I am thankful, but if I would ask, could we just leave this between Aomine and me? It was partly my fault and I don't want to see any more problems today."

Aomine tensed as his eyes moved from his mates body to Akashi's face, prepared to defend Kagami if the shorter male had a problem with his request. He had never heard of anyone asking Akashi to leave a problem alone. His chest heated up with pride over his mate.

* * *

Akashi looked at the taller male before him. Kagami had his eyes turned down, his shoulders slumped a bit, his whole body screamed submissive to Akashi, but his voice was firm and strong, pulling a slight grin from the alpha.

"Alright Taiga, if that is your wish, then I will let it go this one time."

He watched as the male let out a large whoosh of air, almost as if he had been holding it.

"But…" Akashi's red eyes turned down towards Aomine's, staring into the blue orbs, "If this happens again, to either of you, I will not be so forgiving. You are my responsibility and my pack. I won't have you hurting each other needlessly."

He watched as both of the males gave a nod, Kagami looking down at his mate with worry.

"Now take Daiki home Taiga. He will need to rest after that ordeal. Although, I suggest you speak about this to Tetsuya before leaving. Atsushi, let's go look at your shoulder. Shintarou, do you mind?"

"No of course not. Let's go Murasakibara. Stand up. No I will not help you. It is mostly healed, you can walk on your own."

Akashi watched as the purple giant let out a whine for sweets, saying it would help his shoulder, and Midorima refuse him, pushing his glasses up. Smiling, he turned and walked away, making sure to speak up as the other two followed him.

"Oh, Ryouta, make sure Tetsuya gets home as well."

The blonde perked up, "Yes of course! Leave it to me Akashicchi!"

* * *

Kagami watched as everyone moved, Murasakibara walking past him with Midorima only to pause for a moment. He felt Aomine get tense behind him, but he wasn't bothered as the big male patted his shoulder.

"Sorry Kaga chin and Mine chin."

Grinning, Kagami reached up and ruffled the long purple hair that was just within his reach, "Don't worry about it. We will meet up tomorrow and get you some sweets as an apology, sound good?"

He watched as the male's purple eyes lit up, "Yes. Tomorrow. Make sure to call Kaga chin."

With that, the two of them walked away, Midorima still refusing to give the large alpha sweets to heal his shoulder. Kagami's eyes landed on Kuroko next, the shorter blue haired male still angry, but calmed down considerably. It helped that Kise was standing next to him. Kise had yet to present, but they all knew that Kuroko was much more in control of his alpha urges when the blonde was around.

"Kuroko…."

"Don't Kagami. This is my apology to give."

The redhead watched as his mate stood, using his shoulder as support for a moment before walking forward to stand in front of the shorter alpha. They stood there for a few moments, staring at each other in silence, long enough that Kagami and Kise shared concerned glances, but then Aomine spoke.

"It's my fault Tetsu. I'm sorry I treated Kagami like I did. I was going to apologize before you jumped me, but that doesn't make it better. I don't want you to hate me, but I'm not giving him up."

Kuroko stared a bit longer at the taller male, before his face softened a bit, "That's fine Aomine kun. I suspected you would end up Kagami kun's mate, but don't treat him like other omegas. He isn't like that."

Kagami watched his mate nod, the two alphas seeming to be back on common ground.

"Kurokocchi, we should go now and make sure you aren't hurt."

Kuroko looked at the blond and smiled, more than he ever did towards the other boys, "Alright Kise kun. Let's go. Goodbye Kagami kun, Aomine kun."

Kagami walked forward, stopping to stand next to his mate as they both watched the two males walk away. Kise let out a loud whine as he begged Kuroko for something, the alpha turning his head as they turned the corner.

"If Kise doesn't present as an omega, I don't know what Kuroko is going to do."

"Yeah. They are practically mated already."

Kagami nodded in agreement. Finally, he looked over at Aomine, noticing the faint scratches and rips on his clothing and skin. His eyes softened a bit, his hand reaching out to caress over a freshly healed scrape on Aomine's arm.

"You're a dumbass, you know that?"

* * *

Aomine looked over at Kagami as he felt fingers softly caress his skin, the look on his mate's face making his heart rate pick up again. He could only smile ruefully back at the redhead.

"Yeah."

"Let's go back."

Aomine looked back at the basketball court, "No one on one?"

He grinned at the glare he received, "Not after all of that baka. We gotta make sure you're not seriously wounded."

"You just want to get me naked again huh Kagami?"

He was prepared for the kick to his thigh, using the moment to reach forward and grab his mate's shirt, pulling him forward to wrap an arm around his waist. Leaning forward, he kissed the one scratch that Kagami had suffered, the mark already healed over the redhead's temple.

"I don't want you to do that again."

The redhead got silent as he rested his hands on Aomine's shoulders. Aomine let his head fall onto the shoulder in front of him, rubbing his forehead over Kagami's golden skin.

"I know you won't listen to me, but it scared the fuck out of me."

* * *

Kagami let out a sigh as he wrapped his arms around Aomine's shoulders, feeling the alpha's arms doing the same with his waist. He pressed his face into his mate's neck, kissing it softly, before letting himself relax.

"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. But I couldn't just let him attack you. I moved without thinking. Although I still would do it again if it meant helping you."

He felt the male let out a breathy chuckle neck to his ear, "You realize omega's don't think like that right?"

Kagami grinned, "Yeah, but I'm not a typical omega. We already established that."

"Yeah, I guess we did."

Both of them were silent for a while, simply happy to hold each other. It wasn't until Aomine rubbed his forehead against Kagami's neck again that he heard the soft whisper.

"I'm sorry for being a dick, Taiga."

He couldn't help it. He leaned back and pressed a soft kiss to Aomine's lips, "Me too."

"Can I come back to your apartment now?"

Kagami laughed a bit and stepped back, his eyes teasing, "How else am I supposed to get you naked to see if you have any other wounds?"

The redhead watched as Aomine's eyes darkened a bit, a soft growl coming from his chest, "You want me naked Taiga?"

Kagami had meant it as a joke, but as he watched his mate eye his body with lust, desire licked through his veins rapidly.

"Fuck yeah. Yeah I do."

Aomine smirked at that, "Then what the fuck are we standing here for?"

Notes: The next chapter is ALL ABOUT MAKEUP SEX, so be prepared for that. And yes, there will be a small chapter on Kuroko and Kise as well, as that is something that is happening. I hope you liked it!

Chapter 6

Summary: The makeup sex, as promised. NSFW.

Notes: I'M SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE! DON'T HATE ME PLEASE!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Kagami didn't have a chance to remove his shoes before he was being pushed up against the nearest wall. He could feel Aomine's hard arousal against his ass already, the hard bulge grinding against his ass cheeks. Turning his head to the side he pressed his cheek to the cool surface, his eyes dark as he looked over his shoulder as he pushed his ass back more. He wanted his mate so badly, the need to have his smell all over him driving him wild.

"Hurry up Daiki."

A responding growl filled the room as Aomine's hands wrenched the redhead's shorts and boxers down, just enough to reveal his round ass. Licking his lips, the alpha grabbed the right cheek, squeezing the firm flesh in his hands, grinning as he heard his mate moan softly.

"You want me that badly Taiga?"

Aomine wasn't prepared for Kagami to twist around, pushing himself up away from the wall and grab the back of his head, his fingers gripping his hair. The alpha's eyes widened as they met dark red, Kagami's eyes fierce as he stared back at him.

"I said, hurry up Daiki," Kagami growled his words as he gripped the blue strands tighter.

Not one to disappoint his mate, Aomine bit into Kagami's wrist gently, the action sure to leave a mark, their eye contact never breaking. As he sucked on the skin, leaving a large mark, he pushed his hips forward again, his shorts having been pushed down to his knees now. He watched as his mate felt his bare, slick cock rub against his ass, the feeling causing Kagami to release his hair and turn back to the wall, resting his forehead and hands against the surface.

Aomine grabbed the redhead's hips, pulling them back towards him, grinning as Kagami spread his legs wider. He needed the omega so much and knowing he wasn't the only one made his desire spike even more. Leaning forward, Aomine kissed and sucked on Kagami's neck, right over his mating mark, the action causing the omega to jerk and tip his head to the side, a deep guttural moan leaving his chest. Aomine needed to hear more. With that thought he reached down and spread the redhead's ass cheeks, his cock instantly slipping between them and rubbing over the slick hole that awaited him. The alpha's forehead went to Kagami's shoulder as he panted, one hand gripping his cock as he rubbed the head up and down the redhead's slick crack.

Aomine moaned as he pressed the head against the tight hole, feeling it clench as he pushed against it, "Ah Taiga, relax."

"Mmm fuck I am relaxed. Just get inside me."

Kagami pressed his hips back more, practically begging for Aomine's cock, needing to feel completely connected to his mate again. As he felt the head press slowly into his hole, he groaned, his head dropping. He loved the feel of Aomine inside of him. He loved it more than anything, but as the alpha inched slowly in, Kagami growled with impatience. He wanted all of Aomine, right now.

"Taiga don't mov-FUCK!"

The redhead cried out along with his mate as he slammed his hips back, forcing Aomine's cock completely inside. He moaned and tipped his head back as he clenched hard around the hot flesh inside of him, reveling in the way Aomine gripped his hips hard enough to bruise. This is what he wanted: his mate taking him fully.

Looking over his shoulder, Kagami stared at the alpha with need, his voice rough, "Daiki move already. I need you."

He thought he was prepared for the first thrust, but as Aomine pulled out to his tip and slammed back inside, he realized he would never be ready for the pleasure his mate gave him. The redhead clawed at the wall as the alpha behind him pounded into his ass, over and over, forcing his cock so deep inside that Kagami cried out every time he reentered. The redhead still needed more as he pushed his hips back to meet Aomine's, the loud smacking of skin echoing in the apartment.

Aomine's head fell back, his eyes squeezing shut as he snapped his hips forward, his cock being engulfed by his mate. The wet heat and friction were driving him wild, his hips getting faster and faster, the rhythm brutal. He would have been worried about Kagami but as he felt his mate push back against him, the redhead crying out with pleasure, he realized just how un-fragile the omega truly was. The feeling of a clawed hand digging into his hip brought his head down, eyes open. He nearly came at the sight of Kagami bent forward, his cheek against the wall, his face flushed as his mouth hung open.

"Daiki…ahhh more…d-deeper."

The alpha's cock twitched dangerously inside his mate, the feeling causing his rough pace to stutter as he reined back his impending orgasm. He needed Kagami to cum first; needed it like oxygen. Reaching down with his left hand, Aomine lifted the omega's leg up, hooking his fingers just under the back of his knee. His other hand moved forward, wrapping his right arm around Kagami's chest, pressing their bodies tightly together. His lips were right next to his mate's ear, and as he whispered into it, he felt the redhead clench around him even tighter.

"Is this deep enough Taiga? Mmm you're sucking my cock in so deep it's driving me insane. Is this what you needed baby?"

Aomine thrust up into the redhead's ass, knowing he had found his sweet spot as he felt Kagami arch against him, his mouth wide open as he cried out.

"Ahhh right there? Is that where it feels good Taiga? Mmmm you feel so fuckin good baby. Ohhh fuck…ahhh yeah let me hear you Taiga."

Kagami's brain shut off as he listened to Aomine whisper and moan in his ear as he thrust his cock directly up into his prostrate. The intense pleasure spiked hard every time the alpha snapped his hips up, his cock buried directly against his sweet spot. Moving his arm back, Kagami gripped Aomine's hair, his head falling back onto his opposite shoulder, his neck openly offered to the alpha. His omega needed one more thing to cum, the redhead letting out a high pitch whine to get his mate's attention.

The alpha instantly understood. Aomine let out a loud snarl as his hips pounded impossibly hard into Kagami, his teeth elongating in his mouth at the sight of his bared neck. As soon as the omega cried out, his orgasm barreling down on him, Aomine bit deep into his neck, directly over the mating mark. He moan long and deep as the redhead immediately came, his hole fluttering and squeezing his cock hard, his cum shooting out onto the wall.

"Ahhh Daiki…DAIKI!"

Aomine didn't release him until he thrust a few more times, burying his cock deep inside the omega and exploding, his cum filling the redhead as his knot kept them connected. Only when his body stopped jerking with pleasure did he pull his head up, licking off the traces of saliva and blood from Kagami's neck.

The redhead slumped against the wall as he felt his mate's knot pulse inside of him, his ass feeling full. He felt strong arms wrap around him, his leg falling back to the ground as the alpha rubbed his face against the back of Kagami's neck. Kagami grinned at the feeling. Moving one hand forward he linked his fingers with Aomine's on his chest, loving the way the alpha rumbled with affection behind him.

"Are you ok Taiga?"

Kagami hummed as he looked over his shoulder, "Mmm yeah, definitely. You?"

Aomine chuckled as he kissed his mate's temple, "Yeah. You're amazing Taiga."

The redhead just nodded with agreement as he settle back against his mate's body. His legs were weak and his stomach was growling, but he closed his eyes and let out a deep, satisfied sigh. He felt, rather than heard, the growl of pride deep within Aomine's chest as he pressed against his back. Kagami was almost asleep in the alpha's arms before a thought struck him hard, his eyes snapping open.

"Daiki?"

"Hmm?"

"We haven't said it yet."

A long moment of silence filled the apartment as the two males stood together. Kagami wasn't sure how to approach this situation. Was he supposed to say it? Was Aomine? Did it need to be said? They were mates now, but the redhead felt more for Aomine than just matching biology. Even though it was so soon, Kagami felt compelled to tell Aomine how he felt. He opened his mouth, but was cut off as Aomine softly kissed the side of his neck, his voice rough as he whispered.

"I love you Taiga."

Kagami's heart squeezed in his chest as the words whispered through his mind, a soothing peace taking over his body.

"I love you too Daiki."

Aomine wrapped his arms tighter around the redhead as he grinned into his neck. He thought about saying something to lighten the mood, but as he felt Kagami turn his head and kiss his forehead, he opted to keep silent, the mood seeming perfect as it settled around them.

Notes: I hope you enjoyed it! The next chapter will be the last chapter for this story. I know it is short, and slightly rushed, but I seem to suck at focusing on multiple stories at once. I am going to focus on my other fic for a while. I might do a sequel to this, who knows. :) Look for the next chapter soon!

Chapter 7

Summary: This is the last chapter! It is a bit longer than normal, sorry!

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Kagami groaned as he rolled over, his body sore. Coach had been pushing them more than normal in practice and his legs were definitely feeling the change. As he felt a hard body next to his he felt a sleepy grin hit his lips. Turning onto his side he threw his arm and leg over his mate, burying his face into the dusky shoulder next to him. He did this every morning, not that he would ever tell Aomine that. Grinning he rubbed his head back and forth against the alpha's skin, his hair going wild in the process. As an omega, Kagami loved Aomine's scent. It was extremely strong and earthy, and the urge to have it spread all over his body was something he couldn't pass up. Getting lost in the sensations and smells, Kagami rubbed harder until he heard a deep chuckle.

"You like how I smell that much hmm Taiga?"

The redhead froze as he peeked up over Aomine's shoulder, only to find two sleep filled eyes staring over at him. A lazy smirk came to the alpha's face as Kagami slowly pulled back, a frown on his lips.

"No. I was just trying to get you to move over, that's all, aho."

A deep hum came next to his ear, Aomine having leaned over closer to him, "But you do that every morning baby."

The omega flushed red and jerked away at having been caught not just today, but every other day as well. Rolling over onto his side Kagami buried his face into his pillow, letting out a frustrated groan. Well there goes his morning pleasure. The redhead could feel movement behind him, and then a strong arm wrapped around his waist, a hot body pressed to the length of his, a deep voice against his neck.

"Why'd you stop?"

Kagami growled, "Cause it's stupid and embarrassing."

A small kiss was pressed to his neck as the alpha pushed closer to him, their legs tangling together, "But I like it when you do that. I get to smell like you all day."

The redhead's eyebrows went up with surprise, his head turning a bit as he looked at his mate, "You like smelling like me?"

Aomine nodded as he rubbed his own head against Kagami's hair, letting out a rumble of satisfaction.

"You smell so good, like spices and sunshine."

Kagami rolled his eyes, but couldn't help but be internally pleased. Soon it wasn't enough for Aomine to just rub their heads together as his hands started roaming. Moving up and down the omega's bare torso, Aomine let his hand follow along Kagami's sides, then up and over his chest, his thumbs flicking the redhead's nipples lightly.

Gasping, Kagami arched into Aomine's hand, "What are you doing Daiki?"

A deep, husky growl came next to his ear, "I told you Taiga. Your smell makes me crazy."

As a dark hand slid down his abs to cup his hardening cock in his boxers, the omega tipped his head back and moaned, his neck bare for the alpha behind him.

"We have school soon."

The redhead was immediately rolled onto his back, Aomine spreading his legs and pushing their hips together as he lowered himself onto his mate, his upper body resting on his forearms next to Kagami's head. Leaning down he barely brushed his lips against the omegas, grinning as he felt the thighs around his hips tighten, and ankles locking over his ass.

"You want me to stop Taiga?"

Aomine rolled his hips as he spoke, his breath coming out hard over Kagami's lips, their eyes locked. The redhead brought his hands up and gripped Aomine's waist, his fingers digging in as he rolled his hips up to meet his mate's.

"No, don't stop Daiki."

A deep rumble filled Aomine's chest as he leaned down and captured his mate's lips, the kiss slow and deep as they rubbed their hard cocks together. He ran his hands through the redhead's hair, his head tilting as he kissed Kagami more, moving slowly. Most of the time the need to be inside Kagami was overwhelming, but now, early in the morning, Aomine enjoyed his mate's body slowly. He wanted to draw every moan he could from Kagami before they were done.

As he finally pushed himself into the redhead, the tight, slick heat surrounding him, his heart stuttered at the perfectness. Looking down he drank in the sight of Kagami's face, his ears filled with his moans and pleas. Aomine couldn't stop himself as his voice whispered out.

"I love you Taiga. So damn much."

Kagami looked up at his mate, the statement catching him off guard. Aomine normally didn't say he loved him a lot, not for lack of feeling that way, but simply because he wasn't overly emotional. But as the redhead looked at the alpha's face, the dark eyes shining, he smiled softly.

"I love you too Daiki. More than anything."

Aomine grinned, "Anything?"

Kagami pretended to think hard, a teasing smirk on his face, "Well…I mean I do love burgers, not gonna lie. That might be a tie."

At that the alpha snapped his hips forward, hitting Kagami's sweet spot hard, forcing him to cry out at the action. Aomine gave a toothy grin down to the redhead.

"A tie huh? Guess I'll have to make sure I win then."

With that, Aomine pulled his hips and thrust forward again, taking both of them deeper and deeper into overwhelming pleasure. By the time they were done, Kagami had breathlessly admitted Aomine had won the tie, which was met with a deep chuckle from the alpha.

"Of course I did. The only one who can beat me is.."

A kick to the face effectively stopped Aomine from finishing his sentence.

Kagami rolled his eyes, "Shut up aho, we gotta go to school."

* * *

"Kagami kun, why were you late this morning?"

The redhead looked him, his best friend's blue eyes meeting his with concern.

"Um I was just a little late getting out of bed Kuroko," the redhead stuttered a bit, his cheeks red.

"Ah I see. Aomine kun then."

Kagami groaned and put his head on his friend's desk, "Yes Kuroko, though you don't have to say it so bluntly."

A small pat came to his head, "Don't worry Kagami kun. It's perfectly natural to be that way with your mate. I'm just glad Aomine kun is treating you correctly."

Kagami smiled into the desk, his mind thinking of his mate, "Yeah. Everything's fine Kuroko. Don't worry."

The blue haired male nodded, his eyes looking out the window. Both friends sat in silence, until Kagami picked up a scent that was out of place in his school. Picking his head up he looked around, confused.

"Kagami kun, is something wrong?"

"Oh. No, I just smell Kise. Did he come here earlier?"

Looking at his best friend, the redhead noticed that Kuroko froze for a second before shaking his head. "No I don't think so."

Cocking his head, Kagami leaned forward, locking eyes with the alpha before him, something he could only do as it was Kuroko. The omega took a large sniff of his best friend, the smell hitting him hard.

"Kuroko?"

"Yes Kagami kun?"

"Why do you smell like Kise?"

The alpha fidgeted in his chair a bit, his expressionless mask slipping a bit, "I don't know Kagami kun."

"Kuroko?"

The alpha nearly glared at his friend, "Yes Kagami kun?"

"Why do you smell like Kise who smells like an omega?"

With that, Kagami received a hard stab to his side, Kuroko standing and leaving as the bell rang out. Even as the pain emitted from his side, the redhead smiled. Called it.

* * *

Walking out towards the front of the building, Kagami stretched his arms over his head. Practice had been cancelled. Apparently coach had gone into her first heat, and a certain captain had to go help her. Smiling at the idea of his friend's all finding their mates, Kagami didn't realize he had accidently run into another male until their shoulders collided. The other male fell back as Kagami stood there, confused on what had happened.

"Ah sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going. Here, let me help you."

A snarl from the male on the ground made Kagami pull his offered hand away. The smell hit him just as the male stood. This was an alpha. The redhead nearly groaned with frustration. An alpha that was smaller than him. This wasn't going to end well. Most alphas who came into contact with Kagami instantly disliked him. He was extremely big for his age and for his status; omegas usually were smaller than him by a lot. As the male stood he got into Kagami's space.

"What the fuck is your problem?"

Kagami looked at the other two males behind the alpha, them being betas. Although they weren't as threatening as an alpha, they obviously seemed to stand in a pack mentality, which could be bad for Kagami. Raising his hands, the omega tried to look as apologetic as possible.

"I said I was sorry. I really am. It was my fault."

"Damn right it was your fault!"

The redhead watched as the alpha caught scent of him.

"You're an omega? No fuckin way."

Kagami nodded as he stepped to the side, hoping to just walk away before this alpha did something stupid, "Yeah I am. Again, really sorry about knocking into you, but I gotta go now."

As he made to walk forward, his arm was grabbed in a hard grip, the alpha grinning evilly at him.

"What's your rush omega? I think you owe me an apology. Why don't you get on your knees and start giving me one?"

Kagami let out a deep growl, something that surprised the alpha, "Let me say this once. You may be an alpha, but if you don't get your hand off me you're going to embarrass yourself. I apologized multiple times. Now let go."

The alpha snarled as his claws dug into Kagami's skin, "Fuck you omega. I said-"

The male didn't get to finish as Kagami used his other hand to grab his throat and push him against the side of the building, the alpha's feet a few inches off the ground. Leaning in, Kagami's voice rumbled dangerously as he locked eyes with the alpha.

"I said to get your fuckin hand off me."

The alpha's eyes went wide as he struggled, but the simple fact was Kagami was stronger than him, even as an omega. What the redhead hadn't thought through were the two betas behind him, who let out twin growls and moved closer. All at once though their path was stopped.

"I really wouldn't do that if you want to walk away from this."

Kagami smiled as he looked over his shoulder at his mate, Aomine easily making the betas back down.

"Hey Aomine."

The alpha looked back at the redhead, a frown on his face, "Kagami what are you doing?"

Stepping away from the alpha and letting go, the redhead watched him fall to the ground, coughing.

"Sorry about that, but I did warn you. Next time please just let me pass."

Turning away, Kagami walked towards Aomine, "I was just going to call you when I left school."

Aomine's eyes narrowed as the alpha let out a pitiful growl behind the redhead, "I came to meet you for one on one. You said your practice was cancelled."

Kagami brightened at the idea of basketball, "Yeah definitely. Oh shit! I forgot my shoes at home though. Let me run and grab them. I'll meet you at the regular court."

Aomine nodded and watched his mate run off before turning to the alpha on the ground. Walking over he squatted down to stare at him in the eye, not surprised that the other male couldn't hold his gaze for long.

"I'm going to give you a warning as Kagami would be upset if I did more than that. You ever touch my mate again and I will rip your fucking arm off. Got it?"

The alpha in front of him shakily nodded, his whole body shaking like a leaf.

"Good."

Standing, Aomine walked towards the court to meet his mate, his body full of pride at the way Kagami had handled himself. He was certainly right when he had said he wasn't like other omegas. Grinning the alpha turned a corner, walking faster to the court, impatient to see the redhead again. Of course he got there before Kagami, so he stood next to the hoop and waited, his mind filled with thoughts of the redhead.

"Aomine!"

His head snapped up as he heard his name, the image of Kagami running towards him with a smile on his face was something he would never forget. Overcome with the urge to hold the omega, Aomine sprinted forward and barreled into the redhead, both of them falling to the ground.

"Ahh fuck. What the hell Aomine?! Why did you-!"

Kagami's irritation was cut off as soft lips pressed to his, a warm body hovering around him. He instantly kissed the alpha back, his mind forgetting the anger at being tackled. When Aomine pulled back, Kagami looked up at him with confusion.

"I'm really glad you're my mate Taiga."

Kagami blushed, "What?"

Aomine shrugged, "Just thought I'd tell you."

The redhead looked down for a moment before gripping Aomine's shirt, pulling him back down to smash their lips together, the alpha moaning at the feeling. When they both couldn't go without oxygen anymore, Kagami pulled back.

"I'm really glad your mine too Daiki."

Both males grinned, as they simultaneously rubbed their foreheads together, their scents mixing, the smell an addiction they would never get over.


End file.
